


Check Mate, Princess

by SherlockedCastiel



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Doctor Clarke, Doctor/Patient, Drunk Bellamy, F/M, Slow Burn Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 43,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockedCastiel/pseuds/SherlockedCastiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Bellamy is admitted to the Ark, the hospital Clarke works at, he takes a liking to her immediately. However after she declines his date offer he decides to challenge her to a game of chess almost every day. His prize if he finally wins; a date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I might just win this one." He said abruptly, breaking Clarkes concentration yet again. He liked messing with her head almost as much as he liked messing with his hair, which was already an unruly mop of tangles on top of his head. Clarke always had her hair tied back in a bun or ponytail as at work she didn't have time to worry about it.

"You wish." She teased, moving her piece forward calmly. He'd never beaten her before. He went to pick up his piece and winced, the fractured rips a heavy reminder of why he was here, playing Clarke at chess in a hospital bed, rather than at home with Octavia.

"Usual wager then?" And she nodded, watching as he delicately placed his piece which she quickly took. He never thought too much about the game, so she always won. Still he put up a good fight.

"What pudding cup of yours will I be taking today then?" She mocked him, enjoying the look of dissatisfaction on his bruised face. The cut below his eye was almost healed now, but he still looked injured.

"When I get to take you out, what are you gonna wear?" He retaliated.

The same bet had been placed after the third game they'd played, and therefore the third game Clarke had won. If she won, his daily pudding cup for dinner would be her's. If he won, which he claimed he would eventually, she had to accompany him on a date when he was discharged from hospital. 14 games later and Clarke was 14 pudding cups richer.

Bellamy insisted they play every time she had finished a shift, so she stayed for an hour or so instead of going home, because he was good company.

Bellamy Blake had been placed in the hospital after a car accident 3 weeks ago. His broken ribs meant he couldn't move much, and he'd been into surgery twice now to sort out some internal bleeding. He'd had dozens of stitches but despite this seemed to be desperate to take Dr Griffin out on a date since the second she'd placed an IV drip in him on his first day at the hospital.

The hospital was a lonely place, so despite saying no to his advances because he as a patient, Clarke still spent her time looking after Mr Bellamy Blake. She'd been transferred to his case after a few days, and was even enjoying the company of his sister Octavia outside of the hospital.

With Clarke spending so much of her time with Bellamy, Octavia had taken it to introducing herself and seeing to it that they became friends and so she could make sure Bellamy was okay. Raven, Clarke's room mate, a technician who worked in the hospital, had soon become friends with Octavia as well, which pleased Clarke as Raven didn't get out too much. She was forever staying inside to look at some gadgets she'd been given, or designing something for the hospital.

Clarke couldn't deny that she liked spending time with Bellamy. He was light-hearted, spirited and was highly intelligent. He was a mechanic and had even offered to look at Clarke's car when she said it was making a funny sound.

The Ark, the hospital Bellamy was staying at, was a huge center with many different departments. Clarke liked working there, her love for helping and healing people couldn't serve at a better place, and despite it's dreary nature sometimes, it was a loving atmosphere to be in, something Bellamy always commented on.

"I'll get you in..." Clarke examined the game board. "4 moves. Then your pudding cup is mine Blake."

"In your dreams Princess."

Bellamy had began calling Clarke princess since they'd watched Beauty and the Beast together. Clarke had admitted her liking of disney movies, and Bellamy asked her to bring in her favorite. When they'd watched it Bellamy had claimed that he was the beast, trapped looking ugly in his cuts and bruises, but with the loving hand of his princess, Belle, soon he would be restored to his usual handsome self. He'd asked his 'belle' for a kiss to make him better again, which she'd obviously declined. However it didn't stop him from calling her princess at every opportunity.

Truthfully she liked it.

Sure enough, in 5 moves Clarke had once again defended Bellamy.

"I hope it's chocolate today." Clarke mocked. "I know it's your favorite."

"I'll get you one day Clarke." He promised, and they chatted about chess and pudding until 6:30pm rolled around and food began to be handed out. Clarke removed herself from her perch at the end of Bellamy's bed where she'd been sitting to play and sat at the chair next to him. His food was given as well as two cups of tea. Clarke wasn't in visiting hours, but being staff it was allowed.

Being humiliated for the 15th time was not a strong point for Bellamy. He thought even by luck he would have won a game by now, but no chance. She was too good. Still, wonderful Clarke was worth the humiliation if he finally won and she'd spend the evening with him.

The pudding cup wasn't chocolate but Clarke still rubbed it in her face as she ate it.

"Ah, the sweet taste of victory." She mocked, and Bellamy looked at her, and never wanted to stop. Her radiant blonde hair was tied up, her eyes were blue mixed with grey, like the ocean, and her face was delicate. She was beautiful and fascinating. As much as he liked looking at her, hearing her talk was better.

She loved art and old books, things Bellamy liked but hadn't focused on it the past too much. She taught him countless things about them, talking about them with passion he couldn't understand.

He looked forward to their chess games, the hospital could be a boring place. Luckily she gave him books to read while she was away, and Octavia visited him almost every day although he told her not to. He was slightly worried about her though. He didn't want her to be spending all her time with her boyfriend Lincoln. He was a few years older than Octavia and he was so worried he would break her heart. The loved the fact Clarke and her seemed get along so well.

"You're staring." Clarke points out and he averts his gaze quickly.

"I enjoy looking at beautiful things." he comments and she gives him a small smile.

"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow Mr Blake." She gets up and packs her bag while Bellamy finishes a spoonful of his meal.

"Alright, see you tomorrow Princess." he waves slightly but twitches as he moves his arm too much. He watches her wave back, then walk about, leaving Bellamy to consider the concept that he he liked his girl. Maybe he liked her too much.


	2. Chapter 2

"My brother is totally smitten with you." Octavia pointed as the trio sat in a small booth at a local pub.

"He's not smitten, he's joking around." Clarke pointed out as she sipped at her fruity drink.

"He's not Clarke. I'm telling you he likes you." Octavia picked up her phone and scanned it over. Lincoln was supposed to be meeting her ten minutes ago so she was worried.

Lincoln and Octavia had been together for 2 years now, since Octavia had turned 19. Bellamy told Clarke that he didn't much care for Lincoln to begin with, and he still wasn't fully convinced Lincoln wasn't going to hurt his sister.

Bellamy didn't talk about his childhood much, and Clarke had never wanted to ask Octavia but she knew there was no parents around for the both of them. She didn't know for how long they'd only had each other, but it must have been a while. This is why she assumed Bellamy was so protective over Octavia, there was nobody else to watch over her.

"I'm not interested in dating a patient." Clarke said truthfully.

"He's not always gonna be a patient." Raven pointed out.

Clarke wasn't sure how comfortable she was with discussing her love life with Raven. They had a rocky past with this kind of thing, and although they'd moved past it, it wasn't the most comfortable conversation.

"What are you afraid of?" Octavia asked as Lincoln walked into the bar and spotted her. "My brother doesn't have fangs or a criminal record I promise you." The three of them laughed.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Anya kept me very late finishing some foundations.

Lincoln worked for a large builing construction company run by a strict women called Anya. Lincoln was strong so she was always getting him to extra work.

"We're just talking about my brother." Octavia explained and Lincoln chuckled.

"My favourite subject. How is he? Recovering well I hope." Lincoln said, wrapping his arms around Octavia who looked tiny in comparison to him. Clarke assured Lincoln Bellamy was improving and would be fine.

The night was a reminder of Clarke that these people were now some of her best friends, and how much she liked the company. When Raven had gone away for 6 months ago she'd become basically a shut in. Only talking to certain people and never interacting with anybody at the hospital. She would not be repeating that any time soon.

Raven and her headed home with Lincoln took Octavia to her shared flat further from the center of town.

Raven and Clarke shared a small flat, two bedrooms about 15 minutes away from the hospital. It was comfy but could get a little crowded. When Raven left it had been easier for Clarke to enjoy the apartment as Raven always had some electrical gadget out in pieces all over the floor. If Clarke stood on them she was dead meat.

Clarke, feeling a little buzzed from the nights drinks laid down in her bed and closed her eyes and not surprisingly her mind drifted to Bellamy. She knew how uncomfortable the beds in the hospital were and knew he wouldn't be sleeping well, especially with his ribs. She felt bad.

Falling into sleep she promised to herself she would take him an extra pillow the next day.

***********************

"What's this for?" Bellamy asked as he noticed her leaving an extra cushion next to his bed as he was setting up chess.

"Nothing. Just thought there beds aren't exactly the more comfortable things in the world. How are you feeling?" She sat down and took the remainder of the chess pieces from Bellamy so he didn't have to set up.

"You're off duty, you don't need to ask."

"I want to ask." She assured him and he said he was fine. The game began like usual. Clarke stayed quiet as Bellamy explained how easily it would be to beat her this time. She remained confident but not cocky. She knew Bellamy was surprisingly good at chess despite losing every time, and a few times he had come close to beating her.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't almost let him a few times. The idea of a real date with Bellamy was appealing. He has handsome, clever, witty and made her laugh. Those were all things Clarke liked about Bellamy, but it didn't stop her from not wanting to open herself up romantically to him. Them dating would only end badly. Besides, she knew very little about him in general. Too little to agree to date him. 

"How'd you end up in here?" Clarke asked as she took her move. 

"Now there's a question you've never asked me before." 

"I'm sorry. I just don't know, and I didn't want to invade your privacy." She bit her lip, worried she'd upset him. His eyes flickered over her face, reading her expression. 

"Relax princess, it's not personal. But I can't tell you." He took one of pawns with triumph as she pondered his response.

"So it was something illegal." She grinned at this new lead into the mystery that was Bellamy Blake. 

"Why? Do you like a bad boy, Griffin?" He smiled back at her and she tried to hide her smile. "Why do you never wear your hair down?" He changed the subject quickly. 

"It's unprofessional." Her hand reached up to tuck a non existent strand of hair from her ear. 

"I think you'd look nice. Not that you don't now." She thanked him quietly and the pair kept eye contact for a few moments too long. Bellamy promised himself if he could of, he would have moved closer to her to see if what he was feeling was the same on her side. Sadly, he couldn't move any more than he was already to play chess. 

"Guys? Hello?" Octavia said loudly from the door way and the two averted their gaze to somewhere else in the room. Octavia smiled to herself, thinking about the two idiots. 

She thought that Clarke looked at Bellamy like he was the ocean, and she was desperate to drown, and that Bellamy looked at Clarke like she was the sun and he was eager to burn. She thought they looked like they were falling in love. 

She considered what Clarke had said earlier about Bellamy not being serious about her, and realized that wasn't just Clarke being naive and coming up with excuses. She honesty didn't know how Bellamy thought of her. Octavia knew Clarke was a very unselfish person and rarely thought of herself, so she presumed it would be easy for Clarke to dismiss Bellamy's flirting as general, and not directed at her. 

Clarke was distracting herself by observing the game once again, and made her move. 

"Check mate Bellamy. Better luck next time." She mocked. 

"Ah Octavia." He moaned, checking the board, "You just lost me my pudding cup." And all Octavia could do was smile at her love struck brother with fondness.


	3. Chapter 3

"You'll come with me right?" Bellamy gripped onto the sides of the cart that was taking him away to a CAT scan. Clarke was on duty so she hesitated before agreeing to accompany him.

"Wells!" She called to her passing colleague. He looked surprised she was even taking to him. "I've got to take a patient for a scan, can you cover me up here?" He nodded but didn't say anything back because he was pretty shocked still. Bellamy noted the obvious hostility in her voice when she spoke to him.

Bellamy was wheeled into the elevator and taken down a few floors to the scanner and they prepped. His ribs were showing signs of improvement so they wanted to check up on him. Bellamy for some reason seemed resistant to this idea.

The scanner was large, white and looked similar to those seen on medical programs on the TV, but less complicated than the ones seen in Clarke's textbooks. She'd always been fascinated with these kinds of machines, and X-rays too.

The second Bellamy disappeared into the structure, his hands shot up in panic even though that was bound to cause him pain.

"Clarke?" He asked worried and she took the hand nearest to her trying to sooth him. The doctor doing the testing gave her a funny look and she realised she'd have to let go if she test was to carry on.

"It's okay Bellamy. I've got to let go, and you have to stay still. Did you used to play sleeping lions with Octavia?"

"I did. She was terrible." He chuckled nervously at the memory.

"Just pretend your playing that." She slowly let go of his hand and instead rested her hand on his lower leg, slowly running her thumb over it in what she hoped would be a calming action

The scanner would take a while and she was concerned she didn't know to say. Luckily Bellamy did.

"So what's the deal with your friend up there?" He said the word 'friend' sarcastically and Clarke realised she proably could have been a little more subtle with asking Wells for his help.

"Wells? Don't worry about it." She dismissed the topic quickly but Bellamy didn't want to.

"Want me to kick his ass?" He joked causing Clarke to giggle at the idea of broken and battered Bellamy even trying to hurt Wells right now.

"So is that why you're here? Did you get into a fight?" Her curiosity about how he got himself into this mess had only increased since he'd said he couldn't tell her. She longer to know if it was something illegal, not because like Bellamy had suggested she liked bad boys, but because she was worried he was involved in the wrong kind of crowd, which could put Octavia in a vulnerable position. Besides, it would allow her to know more about what kind of person Bellamy was.

"Not even close Princess." Clarke thought about it and decided Bellamy wasn't going to judge her harshly for what happened with Wells. He was a safe person for her to open up to.

"My parents both to work in this hospital. I'd only started to work here, but Wells and I had been in med school together and we were best friends." Bellamy didn't know about her parents. He'd met her mother quickly, a nice women called Abby who'd taken some blood nearer to his arrival at the Ark. He'd never seen her father or Wells before. The information surprised him almost as much as Clarke being willing to talk to him about a clearly personal matter.

"A couple of months ago my father went under investigation for suspected mis-use of hospital medicine. Somebody had reported that he was stealing medical goods and giving smaller doses of medication to patients because of it." Bellamy was starting to get a picture of what happened.

"He was found not guilty, but his reputation here was destroyed. Nobody would trust him. Patients were given to other people, he wasn't allowed to handle heavily medicated cases, not because he was banned but because people just assigned them to different doctors. He had to get a new job. Unfortunately the Ark is the only hospital around here, so he has to travel a long way to work and back now. The hours are terrible, the pay is worse. He's miserable."

"I'm sorry Clarke." Bellamy said quietly. She didn't reply but she patted his leg as a way of acknowledging his words.

"Finally I couldn't stand it. I snuck into the office and found out it was Wells who'd filed the report. Apparently he'd seen medication in my home. It wasn't for my dad. It wasn't even from the hospital. We had a friend staying with us, and he'd asked about whether his heart medication was suitable. Something stupid like that. And he'd tried to get my father fired. He wasn't my friend, he tried to ruin my dad's career. And he tried to lie to me about it, assured me I was being paranoid when I spoke about somebody who wanted my dad gone. I was so stupid to trust him, and my dad paid the consequences. If I hadn't become friends with Wells, he'd still be happy."

The two sat in silence for a few moments, Clarke upset with the memories of her father before he'd become the man she hardly saw now, the run down exhausted doctor who didn't have time to be a dad. Bellamy was upset with himself as he couldn't say anything to Clarke to make her feel better.

"Your scans complete. Doctor Griffin, do you want to take him back upstairs?" Clarke nodded and the machine started to slowly let out Bellamy.

"I preferred you without the face." Clarke joked and the atmosphere between the two of them went back to normal.

"You love my face." Bellamy said, helping Clarke get him back onto the cart.

"Keep telling yourself that." She began to wheel him back through the hospital.

"I hate hospitals." Bellamy surprised Clarke by blurting this out so quickly as they moved, so much so that she almost stopped dead in her tracks.

"I'm afraid of them." He continued and she kept pushing. "And the coffees bad."

"I agree with you on the coffee. But you've seemed fine the last few weeks." She pointed out.

"I've kind of had be. Besides, you've made it a little easier. The thing is my mum spent a lot of time in hospital when Octavia and I were kids. She wasn't sick.. not like cancer or anything but she kept hurting herself. Octavia used to get scared and call an ambulance because she didn't know what else to do. Then we'd all spend a few days in hospital, and go home. Mum got angry with O for calling for help. She'd drink and then the whole thing would start again. Eventually Octavia stopped calling and mum just got worse. When she finally went we weren't there to call anybody. But every time we came to a hospital Octavia always looked so crushed and then we had to stay there. I can't stand the memory of her being that miserable."

He'd opened up. Clarke felt immense sorrow for him and didn't even know how to express it. It was difficult to understand the situation he'd been in and find the words to express how truly sorry she was for him. He was actually being serious with her for once and yet she didn't know what to say in return.

"Bellamy..." she began but he stopped her.

"It's fine. Really. We've move on now. They went back to the room in silence and then Clarke excused herself as she had to go back to work. Wells had kept her patients under control and happy in her absence which she was grateful for, but didn't feel the need to thank him.

She tried to focus on her work but couldn't stop thinking about Bellamy and the things that he'd said. That Bellamy wasn't like any Bellamy she'd seen before. He was a serious, damaged person and she didn't understand how he could mask it all the time like he did. If she'd been through something like that..

Her mind raced as she practically stormed to Bellamys room at the end of her shift. He was already setting up chess for them when she entered and stopped halfway to him.

"I've got a good feeling about today Princess. I think it's go-" he began to taunt her but she didn't let him continue.

"Go out with me." Clarke blurted and Bellamy was utterly shocked into silence.

"I'm sorry?"

"Go out with me. When you get out of here, take me on a date. Screw winning chess. Go out with me." Bellamy's eyes flickered over her face to see if she was joking or not, and Clarke's straight stare met his baffled expression. He didn't understand.

Clarke couldn't read him as she stood there awaiting his reply. He looked perplexed, his eyebrows lowered and mouth a dead straight line until he opened it to finally give an answer.

"No."


	4. Chapter 4

No.

Clarke slammed the door angrily to her apartment and threw her bag down onto the couch. How stupid could she have possibly be?

How ridiculous could she be to think she meant anything to Bellamy. She always made this mistake. Clearly she was just some young doctor he could flirt with to pass the time. He hadn't been interested in her.

She'd left immediately after he said no. Mumbling something about having something to do she'd turned and left him to himself. He hadn't even tried to explain his decision to her. Just no.

"Clarke?" Raven called from her bedroom, coming out to have a look. "Clarke? I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Is Bellamy getting easier to beat at chess?"

"No. We didn't play." Raven looked confused as Clarke took off her jacket and started to get settled.

"Why not?"

"I asked him out. I don't know why, I just did it in the spur of the moment." Clarke explained.

"So? That's a good thing." Raven grinned expecting good news

"He said no." She shrugged like it was no big deal but Raven knew her better than that.

"I'm sorry Clarke. I'm sure he had a reason. Did he say why?" Clarke shook her head and Raven was stumped for word. From what both Clarke and Raven were telling her, Bellamy was into Clarke. Eventually Clarke realised she was being rude and asked Raven how her day had been.

"Good thanks. I'm suppose to be building something for engineer soon, so that'll be fun." Raven loved working on new things, but she didn't really get on with engineer. They tended to be condensing to her, and didn't respect her job as highly as they respected their own field as a mechanic.

"At least you'll be building." Clarke pointed out. Raven agreed and excused herself into her bedroom to text Octavia.

"What the hell Bellamy?" Octavia demanded as she rushed into his room in the hospital. Bellamy knew why she was behaving in this way, but chose to ignore it for as long as possible, and hopefully avoid explaining at all.

"Hello to you too Octavia."

"Don't do that. I want an explanation as to why I got a text from Raven saying Clarke asked you out and you said no yesterday." She slumped down in the hospital chair next to him. "I just don't get you Bell."

"I don't want to explain myself. Especially not to my pipsqueak of a sister. "

"Don't play the whole big brother card on me."

Bellamy didn't retaliate, he was too tired. Too angry at himself to defend it. He couldn't believe what he'd done to Clarke, and he still couldn't believe she'd asked him out. He hadn't expected her to. He assumed she'd only been going along with the whole chess thing because she knew she couldn't lose.

But now the chess wasn't the issue. He was.

Even though Bellamy didn't want to admit it to Octavia he knew exactly why he hadn't said yes when Clarke had offered him all he'd wanted for the past couple of weeks.

When they were playing chess it was easy to imagine going out with Clarke, taking her out to dinner, holding her hand, making her happy. But now it wasn't a game, it was real and he understood he couldn't make her happy.

How could he?

She was a doctor, successful, well educated with a bright future ahead of her. Nothing was out of the question for her. Clarke had a good life, and it didn't need to be ruined by getting mixed up in Bellamys one.

He couldn't imagine her ever needing him. What could she need him for? Why would she want him? His job was low paying, he was desperately immature when it came to the future; he had very little plans because he was happy with what he had now. He had Octavia and she was happy, that was all he'd ever wanted.

And now he had something else he wanted but he knew he wasn't worthy of Clarke Griffin. She needed somebody who could give her everything. And Bellamys everything was simply himself which was nothing in his opinion.

It had been easy before to kid himself into thinking he could ever date Clarke, but she'd made the fantasy possible and he knew it just wasn't the best thing for her.

It was simple. Bellamy Blake wasn't good enough for Clarke Griffin.

Bellamy also felt Clarke hadn't been thinking straight when she'd asked him. She was probably just bored of having to cater to his silly chess game idea. There was a reason she'd said no the first couple times he'd asked, and that reason hadn't changed he was willing to bet.

If Clarke thought she wanted to date him now she wasn't thinking correctly. And it was awful if he was to use that to his advantage to get a date.

"Bellamy? I'm waiting for an explanation." Octavia prompted him and he stared at his little sister.

Except she was also Clarkes friend.

He's never lied to Octavia before. He wasn't sure if he could. But it was for the best.

"I was just joking around. I didn't think Clarke would take me seriously. It's just flirting." Octavia was astonished. She couldn't believe her brother had led her friend on that way. She didn't want to believe it.

"That's not true." She muttered and Bellamy almost told her the truth. It would have been so simple. 'I'm not good enough for her.' was all that was required to stop the one person he loved from thinking so much less of him.

But it wasn't that simple. Octavia was Clarke's friend and would almost certainly tell Clarke about what Bellamy said unless it would hurt her.

"It's true. I'm stuck a hospital bed. I figured I may as well try and have a little fun." He balled up his fist, furious at his own lie.

"You're a jackass." Octavia spat at him and then stormed out of the room. Bellamy didn't blame her, but being left alone was something he didn't like the idea of right now. Not when he might have lost one of the best friendships he'd ever had.

Suddenly Bellamy was taken back to the feelings he'd encountered as a child in hospitals exactly like the Ark. He noticed the smell of powerful disinfectant and was reminded of the nurse that made him scrub his hands till they were red and raw because she thought he was dirty. He white walls he'd had to stare at for hours on end with a whimpering Octavia crying at his side.

Bellamy felt afraid of this place where so many people died. Where the dead were kept and the people mourned their lost ones. Doctors, nurses, sick people and relatives were milling around outside of Bellamys room and he could faintly hear the voices but not the words.

Suddenly he saw a flash of familiar blonde coming into the room so she quickly brushed his fingers through his hair and tried to sit up a little straighter. Clarke came into the room looking directly at him with complete confidence.

"I just saw Octavia. She seemed angry. What did you say?" Her voice was blunt and her tone was harsh with him. He couldn't say he didn't deserve it.

"Just talking about Lincoln." Another lie. "Listen..Clarke.." He began but she stopped him.

"No you listen. I made a mistake yesterday. I was just bored of the whole chess routine thing and thought this would be easier. I didn't mean anything by it, I just thought you might be feeling a bit down because of the test. I thought me asking you out would give you a guideline as to how much longer you're stuck in here for." She wasn't making much sense, she knew that. Unfortunately she didn't really have much of an excuse as to her actions, so this was simpler.

"I'm know Clarke. I'm sorry about how I acted though. And I just didn't think you were being serious. We okay?"

"We're okay." Clarke said and Bellamy grinned like a child looking at cake.

"Awesome. Can you look under the bed for me then?" Clarke narrowed her eyes, suspicious of the request but just glad her and Bellamy were back to normal. She ducked down to look under and saw what he was referring to. She pulled out the old box and displayed it to him.

"Really Bellamy?" She sighed. "Scrabble?"


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke spend the next few days spending a lot less time in Bellamy's room than usual. With his condition improving he wasn't need so much care and most of it the interns could handle. That and it was kind of difficult to be around him right now.

They were still playing scrabble every day though, but conversation was stilted and Bellamy wasn't his usual self. There was no flirting and very little messing around.

The times Bellamy did try and talk about something that wasn't scrabble, his condition or something very generic like the weather, Clarke shut off.

Bellamy didn't want to push Clarke but he couldn't deny he missed how they used to be. He missed her.

About 4 days after the 'asking' occurred Bellamy needed a new IV drip so Clarke called an intern to do it as she wasn't actually assigned to Bellamy as a patient anymore. She could monitor him, but he wasn't her responsibility.

A couple of minutes later, Clarke was still hanging around outside of his room but nobody had arrived.

Knowing Bellamy had noticed her outside she entered the room.

"I've called somebody to put the drip in for you." She explained and Bellamy nodded. His expression changed from neutral to cocky.

"Why don't you do it, Princess? I don't think you've treated me since we started playing chess. Getting rusty?" Clarke considered her options and decided it couldn't hurt to do it herself. Her other patients were fine and all stable. Charlotte, a 14 year old girl she was most worried about hadn't showed any signs of deteriorating in several hours so she had some time.

"Fine." She took out the equipment, put on her gloves and set everything up. Bellamy sat there, patiently watching her.

With the needle set up she began to steady it to go into the arm. Bellamy was used to this by now and was totally calm, and Clarke knew she should be too. But she was strangely...frightened. Her hand wouldn't go any furthur, she started to feel hot and flustered. It might have been the fact she was very close to Bellamy, but she still couldn't concentrate enough to get the IV in.

She tried to steady her hand which was shaking trying to find a place to put the needle. Her breathing hitched and she couldn't focus. She could hear Bellamy's steady breathing to her side.

Her patient was Bellamy. It felt so abnormal to be trying to do this to a friend. She'd done it to him before, when she hadn't really known him and he'd just come into the hospitals care, but that was different. She tried to remind herself it was the same skin, the same arm.

But it wasn't the same person.

"Hey it's alright." Bellamy spoke softly as his other hand reached over and tried to rest on hers. He'd meant it as a kind gesture but Clarke acted as if she'd been electrocuted and snapped backwards, taking several quick steps backwards and then fell over the IV stand.

She went flying and the stand snapped at the bottom where she'd stepped on it and about half way up where it hit the ground. Liquid spilled over the floor.

"Clarke?" Without realizing how stupid it was, Bellamy tried to get up from his bed and pain rippled over his as he moved his ribs. He managed a few steps before wincing, letting out a sharp moan and Clarke freaked the second she recovered from the shock of the fall.

"Bellamy, no!" And she jumped up and supported him the best she could, but she couldn't deny he was too heavy for her. "What are you thinking?"

Bellamy could answer, he was mostly focusing on getting back into bed. And on Clarke's hands which were currently all over him trying to keep him up. He helped the best he could.

Together him and Clarke slowly got him back sitting back on the bed which eased enough of the pain for his to focus.

He focused on the fact that Clarke was closer than she'd ever been before. Her hands were wrapped around him and her face was so close. His own hands were over her arms and back.

"Clarke..I.." he trailed off as she didn't respond to the sound. She stayed exactly where she was, eyes flickering over his face. She was looking at the details, mostly each and every individual freckle. Bellamy stared at the colors of her eyes, the coolness of the blue and the contrast of her eyelashes. A beautiful sight to ease the pain.

Bellamy risked leaning forward slightly and slowly to see how she'd react but she didn't. No jumping back, but she also didn't move forward either. Bellamy glanced back down at her lips and decided he couldn't help himself, and started to lean forward slightly faster, only thinking about how amazing it would be to kiss her.

"What the hell is this?" A stern voice demanded from the door and Clarke readjusted herself to put him back in his bed properly. Bellamy recognized the voice as Abby Griffin, Clarkes mom. He swallowed, knowing he and Clarke would be in trouble.

"Nothing...I was just..." Clarke started to explain.

"Look at this mess!" She said and Clarke realized she had been talking about the damaged equipment rather than what Bellamy and Clarke had been up to.

"I'm sorry."

"You're not even assigned to this room. You've wasted time and resources. How st-"

"Dr Griffin, it's my fault. I got impatient and tried to get out of bed. I broke the IV and Clarke heard me yell and came in to put me back into bed. I'm sorry I broke the equipment, I just couldn't stand not being able to get up anymore." Bellamy's lie came out smooth and Abby looked convinced as far as he could tell.

"Mr Blake, we advice you stay in your bed until a professional tells you you're fine to get up. Clarke, call somebody to clean it up. I'll talk to you later." And she turned and walked out. Bellamy relaxed into his bed again.

"What did you do that for?" Clarke asked. Her face was stern but there was a tone of delicacy in her voice.

"Couldn't have the Princess get in trouble with her queen, could we now?" Bellamy grinned, his mouth tilting up to the left slightly, a characteristic Clarke had just started to notice.

"Thank you." Was all Clarke could say. She knew now that even if Bellamy didn't want to go out with her, he still cared about her. And that was enough for her to forgive him. "I should go." She said and removed herself from the room hastily before anybody else noticed she was in there.

Pacing down the hall Clarke couldn't control her thoughts. They ranged from the fact it looked like he was about to kiss her, right to her mother and how disappointed she would be if she found out that Clarke and Bellamy were... Well. They were friends.

Although she felt touched that Bellamy had lied for her to take the blame, she was angry that he felt she couldn't handle it. And she was mostly angry at herself because she couldn't put in a dam IV drip.

It wasn't complicated on a stranger, but doing it to Bellamy felt like she was inflicting pain on him. Clarke knew what they meant.

It was an inevitability really. The play-fighting, the flirting, the long hours spent by him. It wasn't a surprise but that didn't make it any more logical. Clarke based her life on logic. This was completely un-thought out and irrational.

Clarke was falling for Bellamy. Hard.


	6. Chapter 6

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.  
Bellamy repeated the words over and over in his head, longing for a distraction. However when you had problems standing they didn't come in quantities.

The way she'd practically ran out of the room just kept repeating in his mind. The look on her beautiful face had been like a startled deer.

He knew his actions had been badly thought out and awful but it was the first time he'd been able to kiss her if she allowed him too and he reasoned that considering the amount of time recently he'd spent wanting to kiss her, he should have taken the chance.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Bellamy Blake?" Bellamy was shocked to see no other than Abby Griffin at the door to his room. He nodded, too afraid to speak. The IV drip had been cleared up by now, but he still didn't have now fitted. Abby was carrying new equipment to do it with.

"I'm just here to the put the IV in. You're not going to try and walk away are you?" She offered him a smile and he relaxed. When he looked at her, he could see the similarities between herself and Clarke. They had the same kind faces. Same nose and lips shape.

"Thank you." She went through the same procedure as Clarke, except she didn't have any trouble placing it under the skin. Bellamy felt a twinge of quick pain but nothing else.

"So I notice my daughters been spending a lot of time with you recently." Bellamy started to worry.

"I have been. I mean she's my doctor." Abby started to examine his chart and flicked through it quickly. Her eyebrows creased into a frown.

"Not according to this chart. And look, you haven't given a reason for your injury. That implies criminal activity. Care to explain?" Bellamy shook his head slightly. He couldn't risk it. "Hmm."

At the end of his bed Abby crossed her hairs and had the same expression on her face that Clarke had when she was angry at him.

"Look Bellamy, my daughter has a very bright future in front of her. I'm not saying you don't, but she rarely behaves like she did today. I'm worried about her."

"I understand."

"I don't think you do. I don't want her getting distracted from her work or it could seriously damage her future. Just.." she looked like she was having issues phrasing her words. "Keep your distance from her. It's best for the both of you."

Abby whisked round and left the room. Bellamy took a moment to take in the information. The message was exactly what he'd convinced himself before; that he wasn't good enough for Clarke. The difference now was he'd already fallen for her, and he wasn't sure his self control was strong enough for him to stay away.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

************************************************

"Loosen up a bit Clarke!" Octavia laughed resting her head on Lincolns shoulder. They were at the bar again but it was a little busier tonight.

"I'm with Octavia on this on Clarke. You've hardly smiled since coming home from the hospital." Raven herself hadn't been in a good mood either though, so Clarke decided to call her out on it.

"You're just as grumpy as I am." And Raven shot her look of daggers.

"Bad day at work. I met that blasted engineer I'm supposed to building something for. Arrogant, big headed and annoying. Exactly what I expected. God it's going to be hell." She took another slip of her drink at the thought of having to work on the same project with him for so long. He'd been so rude to her. "Why are all the men I meet recently so awful?" She added.

"Well I'm offended." Lincoln pointed out and they all joined him in a light laugh.

"Sorry Lincoln, I'll get the next round in as an apology."

"You're forgiven." He said and Raven went off to the bar. She noticed a couple of men leering at her which wasn't helping her mood in the slightest. She decided it would best if she just ignored them entirely so she looked anywhere but at them.

Just as the bar tender started to pass her a tray of drinks she swore as a recognizable face with blonde hair swept back walked into the bar. Holding the drink tray she scampered back to the table, head ducked down.

"What the hell are you doing?" Clarke hissed quietly as Raven tried to hide herself.

"The engineer just walked in!" She exclaimed. Immediately all 3 of them started to search the room for somebody they'd never seen before.

"The one by the bar. Blonde." They all looked towards Wick, the egotistic jackass Raven had been working with.

"He looks hot." Octavia offered in response and Raven was outraged. That wasn't what they were supposed to think. She'd definitely not thought that. Or she'd tried not to at least. Lincoln raised his eyebrows at Octavia with an amused look on his face. "Obviously not hotter than you."

"Well, we're in for a fun night." Raven pointed out sarcastically.

"I'll drink to that." Clarke added and they raised their glasses and took a sip of their new drinks.

Raven managed to avoid the engineer until around midnight when her friends had decided it was a good time for a last drink.

The pleasant buzz she was experiencing from a few drinks made her forget to be cautious when going up to the bar to get some drinks.

"Didn't think I'd see you here." He mocked as he came over, leaning onto the bar next to her. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Hey we're working together now, can't we get on?"

"I don't tend to get on well with engineers. Especially ones that are rude to me like you were." Wick realized what she was talking about and groaned.

"Ah come on wrench monkey, I just commented that I wouldn't have done that way." Raven frowned.

"God for someone with such a big head you don't have a good memory. You said my methods were like a kid playing with building blocks." Raven put the last drink on the tray and started to walk off.

"That's not what I meant!" He said from behind then rushed to stop her in her tracks. "I get flustered around beautiful girls. My words got muddled." Raven felt her face warming at the compliment but it didn't stop her from being angry. She was aware of her friends staring at her.

"What do you want from me Wick?"

"To start again. Please." He did a quick praying gesture and she nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She said flatly.

"Can't wait!" He grinned and let her pass to the table. Octavia immediately questioned on what had happened and Clarke was just happy to have a distraction from thinking about Bellamy which she was trying very hard not to do.

At the end of the night Raven and Clarke headed back to their place laughing and talking about the evening.

"So I'm guessing something went down with Bellamy today?" Raven asked and Clarke nodded. "Wanna talk about it?"

As they both slumped down onto the couch Clarke decided Raven would be fine to talk about this kind of stuff with right now. She explained everything that had happened that day and Raven listened intently.

"Do you like him?" Raven asked after Clarke was done explaining.

"I think so." Clarke admitted and to her surprise Raven looked disappointed.

"Dam it!" She sighed then saw the look of shock on Clarkes face. "Oh. Right. I owe Octavia 10 bucks. I thought you'd tell her first, she thought the opposite." Clarke raised her eyebrows but decided it was more funny than anything else. Clarke sighed.

"Oh Raven. What am I gonna do?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on Princess, am I really supposed to believe that that's a word?" Bellamy said because he thought there was far too many e's in it.

"You don't have to, but you should, considering it is one." Clarke rolled her eyes, knowing he was just a sore loser. She was winning by 92 points and about to win the game. "At least you don't lose anything when I beat you. Your pudding cup is safe." She pointed out.

"Yes but I don't have the motivation of winning a date with you if I win."

"Stop trying to blame your poor performance on lack of motivation."

Wiggling his eyebrows, Bellamy grinned, "Trust me, my performance is anything but poor."

As he worried that he'd taken the flirting too far, Clarke blushed and swallowed, trying not to think too much about the comment because that was bound to lead to a certain type of thought that was highly inappropriate.

"Get a dictionary next time if you don't believe me." She said.

"Yeah, I'll just get up and go get one." He joked, but Clarke didn't laugh.

"You're scheduled to leave in 4 days, you could if you wanted to. I'm pretty sure you can walk by now. Do you want to try?" And Bellamy realized that was true. In 4 days he'd been up, walking and doing what he used to do. Well, maybe not everything for the first couple of weeks but eventually. His entire time would seem like a vacation.

"Okay. Are you gonna help me?" She nodded and moved the scrabble game she'd just won to the side, before Bellamy had a chance to complain that her last word wasn't real, even though it totally was. He turned his body so that his legs were hanging of the edge and slowly edged himself up to be sitting without the support of the bed.

He wasn't going to lie, it did hurt. His ribs still ached, his body felt completely stiff and weak. He'd hardly moved in weeks except physical therapy which wasn't very helpful to him. But it did feel good to move his body. Clarke was at his side, hand on his chest to make sure he wasn't straining himself.

Reluctantly, as she wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, she took his hand and helped him to stand up. Unlike the other day he wasn't overcome with pain. He felt independent, like he was becoming himself again. It had felt terrible to be cooped up in a hospital bed all day every day.

"Alright?" Clarke asked him and he nodded. Her hand was small but warm in his own. He felt close to her and it felt good. He took a few steps and couldn't help but notice Clarke grinning with pride next to him. She was proud of her friend.

Steadily they made their way around the room until Bellamy was feeling more confident. When Clarke started to release him a bit more, he kept hold of her hand. She told herself it was simply for medical reasons, but she liked to have believed that it was more than that.

They walked around the room slowly and steadily holding hands like an ordinary couple walking down the street. Out of context it felt natural. It felt right.

"I'm so glad I can stand up." Bellamy smiled at her brightly.

"Me too."

"I'm glad because I finally get to do this." He said and quickly, before he changed his mind, swept down and pulled her into him for a tight hug. She felt so dainty compare to him. He hadn't realized how strong he'd gotten in the last few months until he felt like if he held her too tightly, he'd snap her. He made sure to hold her firmly though, like he really meant it.

Her own arms reached up and returned the hug and Bellamy couldn't have felt happier. Her soft hair, still tied back, tickled his chin as he rested on her.

As he let her go he almost risked kissing her but decided against it. He wasn't sure how she'd react and it seemed a shame to risk such a perfect memory by taking it too far.

"I..um. It's late you should probably get going. Didn't you say that this was the day Raven was working with that engineer again? What was his name?" Bellamy slowly made his own way back to his bed as Clarke noticed the time as well.

"Wick. I didn't think you'd remember that. It is. You're right, I'd better get home. I'll see you tomorrow." And she darted off before the unlogical part of her brain demanded she do something stupid like kiss him. 

"See you tomorrow Princess."

****************************(

Raven hadn't been looking forward to her second day with the engineer. She'd been put on an emergency product for the last week so she hadn't seen him and was grateful for it. But now she assumed it would be even more awkward for them to work as she'd skipped out on him basically.

Instead he was very pleasant.

And it was weird.

He asked her nicely to pass him tools, he offered to help with anything she needed, he made her tea and bought her a cookie, he didn't say anything was wrong with her work. He was basically being the perfect gentlemen.

"What's going on with you?" Raven finally asked because she couldn't concentrate on her work for a moment longer.

"What do you mean?" he stopped playing around with the screwdriver he was supposed to be handing her.

"You've been nice to me all day. It's creepy. Be mean...be you." She waved her hands, gesturing at him and he pulled a fake shocked face in 'hurt'.

"I'm not mean." His eyes narrowed as he internally assessed the situation to figure out how best to go about this. "Okay wrench monkey, maybe I just don't like the women I ask out to think I'm mean. You got me. I can reveal my true identity." His voice lowered to a stupidly deep level "I'm Batman."

"Women you ask out?" Raven asked, surprised.

"I think you're pretty cool for a mechanic Reyes, so I wanted to know if you'd get a drink with me." Raven honestly didn't know what to say. On one hand, he wasn't a terrible person. He was funny and could be nice. On the other, she wasn't so sure about dating the arrogant son of a bitch. 

"One drink?" She asked and his face became hopeful. "And you'll go back to acting normal again?"

"I promise. One drink, and I'll be as rude to you as you like." He joked, then frowned, noticing the oddness in the phrasing of his words. "Wait, no, I didn't mean-"

"Okay then. One drink."

What was the worse that could happen?


	8. Chapter 8

Bellamy had his hands entangled in her hair, fingers threaded through the golden locks as he clung onto her with such need. Her arm hands circled his bare muscular stomach, ending on his back, feeling each tiny curve and the heat radiating off his skin.

"Clarke..." He whispered into her ear as he moved downwards to kiss her lightly on the neck. She tingled all over with the meer touch of him.

Clarke raised his head up towards hers and their lips pressed together. His were rough but warm and certainly knew what they were doing. Each moment was small but thought-out, delicate but passionate. His tongue slipped into her mouth quickly and she moaned. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip as she relished the most perfect kiss of her life.

"Clarke you're gonna be late for work!" Raven called into her as Clarke quickly rolled onto her back on the bed. She refused to open her eyes, still clinging to what was left of the dream. Her heart was thumping rapidly and her breathing was heavy. Her face felt flushed and she knew she must be red but she wasn't sure whether it was because she was embarrassed or simply just warm.

"Clarke! Get your ass out of bed!" She yelled again and Clarke groaned.

Although she only could only remembered the last few seconds of her dream she did remember the jist of the rest of it. And she could imagine exactly where it was heading. The ideas running through her mind...

"I'll be out in a minute!" Clarke called but knew Raven would leave the moment she knew Clarke was awake. Clarke hated mornings but Raven was used to getting up early, so Raven woke Clarke up but didn't hang around to see her most likely lousy mood.

Her clock said 7:30am and she tried to focus intentely on getting to work and avoided allowing her mind to wonder to a particular situation. That was the last thing she wanted to think about right now.

The walk to work was brisk and she got to the Ark 5 minutes early despite the late start. Clarke couldn't stop herself thinking how she might have liked an extra 5 minutes of that damn dream.

She knew she'd have to walk past Bellamys room if she was to get to Charlotte, her first patient of the day. She hoped he be asleep but to her dismay Bellamy was walking as she walked past. She avoided eye context and kept strolling. He quickly popped out of the door.

"Hey Princess!" He said calling after her "What? Too busy to say hello to your favorite patient?" He was following her down the hall and given the quietness due to the early hour, drawing a lot of attention to the both of them.

"What..I.. you are not my favourite patient." She stammered out. She couldn't bring herself to look at his face because she'd catch a glimpse of his lips and probably have a vivid flashback to the dream.

"Agree to disagree." He said, finally catching up to her. She noticed he'd showered this morning. His damp hair was tussled around and even messier than usual. He looked clean and fresh, and, god dammit, smelt great too.

However he was out of breath due to catching up to her and given his condition that was not a good idea. The lack of exercise had taken its toll and he was feeling weak. And Clarke knew it.

Without thinking she chose to steady him by putting on of her arms around his back and the other lying flat on his stomach. It felt so exact to her dream Clarke wasn't entirely sure she wasn't still in it.

"Come on, let's get you back to your room." Clarke said quietly. Above all else, Bellamy was a patient and she had to treat him with the same care she did with everybody else.

Making sure he was safety back in his room where he couldn't hurt himself, Clarke wasn't sure she liked her new physical feelings towards Bellamy being more intense then ever. Now she only had to be near him and she felt abuzz and tingly. The effect played havoc on her. Clarke could hardly concentrate. She headed to Charlotte, who had been awaiting test results.

Charlotte had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of 7, and had been fighting it half her life. She was a tough kid. She'd recently been feeling sick, and was showing signs of new developments in the cancer. She'd been clear for 7 months now, and Clarke was begging it was a simple illness. the last thing Charlotte needed was another bout.

"Morning Doctor Griffin." Charlotte smiled as she came into the room and Clarke felt worse than ever as she saw the test results were back.

"Good morning Charlotte, how are we feeling this morning?" She picked them up but couldn't force herself to look at them just yet.

"Same as I was, are those my test results?" She bit her lip and gulped, clearly terrified.

"We shouldn't wait for your parents. They'll be here soon." Clarke was stalling, and she knew it.

"Please? I want to know. If I have to cry, I don't want to do it in front of them. They worry too much." Clarke felt like crying herself. That was no way for a kid to talk. Kids needed to be scared of this kind of stuff, they needed to want their parents to be there for them. They didn't need the responsibility of having to male sure their parents felt okay, when they were the one with freaking cancer.

"Okay." Clarke flipped up the clipboard lid and tried to keep a straight face as she did it. It was back. She tried to figure out exactly what that meant for little Charlotte, but right now she was finding it extremely difficult to act like a doctor.

"How bad is it Doc?" Charlotte asked timidly. Clarke swallowed her sadness and took a deep breath. She sat on the bed.

"Charlotte, the cancers back. The good news is, it's contained. If we remove it, not only would it be gone, but there was be such a slim chance of it coming back."

"What's the bad news?"

"You'd lose your leg. I'm sorry Charlotte. I'm so, so sorry." Clarke looked as the girl tried not to cry, but didn't quite manage it. Her mouth kept opening and closing with questions she couldn't bring herself to ask.

"My parents..." Charlotte said, looking past Clarke and into the corridor. "Please, can you go tell them outside? They'll think it's good news. I just need a minute." She looked down to avoid catching her parents eyes, and Clarke quickly squeezed her hand.

"It is good news." Clarke said, wishing she believed that entirely. Losing a leg. For a kid that was huge. God, for anyone that was huge, and after so long too. Clarke left her to herself and took the parents off to the side to discuss what would happen to Charlotte, just as their daughter caught sight of somebody who'd been watching her. Somebody she'd never seen before.

He was a boy with scruffy black hair and a tanned face. He was wearing a hospital gown, so Charlotte knew he'd be harmless. She gestured for him to go forward and after looking around, he started to slowly make his way to her room. He walked strangely, she thought, like he was injured. But based on her setting, she figured that wasn't so crazy.

"Sorry." he said as he came into the room. "I didn't mean to stare. My name's Bellamy, I'm a friend of Clarke." Charlotte gave him a cheery grin, despite of her situation.

"So am I." She chirped. Bellamy came and took a seat on the chair next to her.

"I'm in for broken ribs. Got myself hurt pretty bad. How about you?"

"I've a mild case of cancer. Only lasted 7 years." Charlotte informed him, trying to make a joke. He smiled at this girl. He could see why Clarke liked her.

"Mild, huh? They gonna do some voodoo magic and it'll go away?" Charlotte's smile disappeared slowly and Bellamy got very worried.

"No. I'm gonna lose my leg." She said sadly. Bellamy considered how he could go about this conversation.

"That's not a bad thing you know. You'll get one of those cool metal ones. You'll be like a cool, crime fighting robot with super speed." Charlotte brightened up so Bellamy continued "And you could have a side kick dog with, like, laser vision or something. And you could use it to kick the bad guys so hard they break their ribs. Cause, let me tell you, that's a real pain in the ass."

"Won't it hurt?" Charlotte asked.

"No. You won't feel a thing. You'll learn to walk on it, and then you'll be better than ever. 7 years of being cancer's bitch, right?" She nodded, a little smile plastered on her face. "Well, after this you'll feel better than ever. Running, skipping, jumping. All the boys will be after the cool robot chick."

"So, it is a good thing?"

"Sure. Less time being spent in the shower. And...do you like gym?"

"No." She pulled a disgusted face and Bellamy chuckled.

"Constant excuse. What do you like? You good at school?"

"Not really. I like art."

"Well then. Say you don't like doing gym with your leg. Do art instead. With a robot leg, they can't say no, and if they do...?" Bellamy led her to finish, loving the look of joy on her face.

"I can kick them." She grinned.

"Bingo."

"Bellamy, I'm scared." She whispered. "I keep having these nightmares that my parents are gonna give up on me and leave, cause I keep getting sick. I know it's awful for them, they always have to take care of me. What if they decide they don't want me anymore and leave?" Bellamy felt crushed by this girls bravery. She had freaking cancer, and she was worried about her parents.

"Kid. You're parents love you, otherwise they wouldn't be here. They wouldn't leave you."

"But they go through so much crap because of me. I know it hurts them. I just don't want them to get hurt because of me."

"Charlotte, they won't care. The only thing they care about is you getting better. And as for the nightmares... Slay your demons while you're awake, and they won't be there to get you in your sleep." She pulled a face at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you have to talk to your parents while you're awake and they'll tell you they won't leave you. Then when you're asleep there won't be anything to be afraid of."

"Thanks Bellamy." Charlotte quickly raised herself up and gave him a quick, gentle hug, minding his delicate ribs. The kind gesture made Bellamy kinda wanna well up it was so sweet. "You're pretty smart. I can see why Clarke's your friend."

"Thanks kid. You're not so stupid yourself." And she grinned like crazy, looking like your average, no worries child.

"Charlotte?" A women's voice came from behind and Charlotte looked up. Bellamy turned to see two rather cheesed off parents and a very confused Clarke staring at him.

"Mom! Dad! I'm gonna have a robot leg!" She smiled and Clarkes eyes almost popped out of her head. She turned to the parents who were still looking terrified of Bellamy.

"This is Bellamy Blake, another patient here at the Ark. I'm so sorry, he was just..." Clarke tried to explain but Charlotte took over.

"He was helping me. Can you two please leave?" She asked Bellamy and Clarke. "I have something I need to talk to my parents about." She gave Bellamy a special look and he shot up a thumbs up as he attempted to leave as quickly as possible. Clarke followed him out.

"Bellamy? Bellamy! What did you say in there? What did you do?"

"I think I helped." Bellamy smiled as he spotted a very teary pair of parents hugging their equally teary daughter. Clarke looked round to see it too and was utterly astonished.

"I don't know what you said to her Bellamy." Bellamy braced himself for a lecture about boundaries or something. "But thank you." She leaned up and placed a very light kiss on his cheek. Bellamy felt weak, and it had nothing to do with his ribs for once.


	9. Chapter 9

"Thanks for...a surprisingly pleasant evening." Raven admitted as she said goodbye to Wick outside her apartment. His hands were in his jean pockets, and he had a shirt and blazer on. Raven thought it looked quite attractive on him.

"I had fun too. Thank you for giving me a chance." He leaned down and took Ravens hand, kissing it right below the knuckle. She smiled and he thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

Raven practically skipped upstairs on her way back to the apartment. Clarke was there along with Octavia to ask her all the details. Raven gladly filled them in.

"Wow Raven! That sounds lovely, you're gonna see him again, right?" Octavia gushed.

"Of course, I work with him." Raven rolled her eyes. Octavia was like the little sister she'd never wanted, it was great teasing her. "I hope so."

"Argh, isn't this great?!" Octavia nudged Clarke who'd been silent pretty much the entire time.

"It is. He sounds great Raven." She grinned, so happy for her friend who deserved somebody who made her happy.

"What's the matter with you guys? You two always get so weird when you talk about guys." Octavia pointed out.

"You wanna tell her, or should I?" Raven asked, kinda casual about the whole thing. Clarke gestured that she could continue, and Raven did. Meanwhile, Clarke recalled the highly unpleasant events that had happened between the two of them.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

When she'd moved in with Raven, it had been because Raven had been asked by her work to go to Indonesia for 6 months or more. Being a mechanic she'd be vital in some of the poorest areas of the country and Raven had wanted to go.

Not being able to leave her apartment alone for 6 months she'd advertised for a room mate with the rule that for the time she was away, Raven would only pay 1/4 of the rent. As it was highly reasonable, Clarke had applied. It was close to the hospital and perfect for her.

Raven had liked Clarke. She was neat and because of her job she was very clean. She didn't mind cleaning the apartment and tolerated Ravens bits of junk being everywhere. They'd lived together for just under 3 weeks and hadn't really spoken too much, but got on. When they talked it was about their jobs or events of the day. Raven mostly talked about her trip because she was so excited about it. They'd become good friends. Clarke was sad that Raven was leaving.

Raven had been gone for almost 2 weeks when a stranger came to the door. He said he'd gotten the wrong address, but Clarke and him got talking and didn't stop for hours. Eventually they started dating.

His name was Finn Collins. He was charming, adventurous and handsome. Clarke had fallen in love with him, she was sure, in just under a month.

They'd dated for 6 months. 6 months of romantic dinners, fun adventures and trying new things. Perfection. Clarke had become a whole new person, throwing all logic out of the window. If she'd used her brain she would have seen him for what he really was.

When Raven came back they'd just been lying on the sofa together. Innocently but Raven saw enough. Her luggage had been dropped while Clarke, completely oblivious to the entire situation, had ran to Raven asking her questions about her trip. Raven and Finn had both stood there motionless.

"Sorry! Where are my manners. Raven, this is Finn. Finn, Raven. She's been working out in Indonesia for the last 6 months or so. Greenpeace." Clarke smiled, proud of her friend and what she'd accomplished, then wondered why neither of the pair were talking.

"Do you two.. know each other?" Clarke had asked and Raven had finally acknowledged her.

"You don't know."

"Raven...let me explain.." Finn began and Clarke fought the urge to demand what was happening from one of them.

"Don't." She turned to Clarke who still remember the look that was on her face to this day clearer than anything. Ravens eyes were glassy and her lip quivered a couple times like she was close to tears. But they ever came. Her expression looked blank, but it didn't look like she was trying not to cry, but like she was too upset to do so. Never before had Raven looked so vulnerable. Broken.

"Clarke, meet Finn. My cheating, lying, bastard of a boyfriend." She'd spat and then walked out before Clarke could even talk.

"Clarke... I'm sorry. Let me explain." Finn said quickly.

"Get out." Clarke had said quietly.

"No, please." He did look upset, she gave him that, but considered he'd lying to her for the past 6 months, she wouldn't be convinced.

"I said get out. And don't come back." She calmly walked to her bedroom so he couldn't argue and she begged silently he would just leave. Clarke had sat by the door, back slumped against it and cried into her hands. She was not the crying type, but she thought the situation called for it.

She'd been lied to for months by the person she trusted more than anybody else and in the process unintentionally betrayed and hurt her friend so badly in the process. How could Raven forgive her?

She'd have to move out and she didn't have anywhere to go. She couldn't ask Wells for help because of what he'd done, she couldn't ask her parents, they were already going through so much already.

When Raven had come home a few hours later, she's started to call out for Clarke. Clarke had braced herself for being told to move out and probably being yelled at. She was aware her eyes looked red and puffy but thought Raven would look the same. She did not.

"Help me with these." She demanded, carrying at least 3 boxes of what looked like old clocks in her hands. Clarke rushed over to help her by taking the top box before it fell. There must have been over 15 clocks in that box alone and the others looks larger.

"What are these Raven?" Clarke dumped the box on the floor and took another one from her.

"My next project. Over 50 and I got them cheap too. Bet I can get them all working within a few days."

"Yeah, but why?" Clarke looked at the old battered clocks and didn't doubt that Raven could get them all working again.

"I've got a few days before I start working again. It'll be relaxing." Raven wiped her hands on her jeans and saw Clarke's concerned face staring at her. "Calm down Clarke. We're cool. It wasn't your fault, you didn't know."

"Thank you. I'm sorry though. I idea, he never mentioned he even knew and if I'd been able to talk to you I would have and I just didn't realise. I promise he's out of my life and I swear I didn't mean to hurt you-" Clarke rambled but Raven silenced her.

"Good. But for the record, you didn't hurt me. He did."

"Thank you." Clarke said, unbelievably grateful but sad for her friend who was hurting. "I'll leave you alone with these then." She had turned to walk away but Raven had one last thing to say.

"Just.. Clarke. Tell me you don't love him." Clarke had thought carefully about her answer, and thought about it dozens of times since wondering if she should have said something different.

"I can't tell you that Raven."

___________________________________________________________________________

"Clarke?" Octavia said, bringing a abrupt end to Clarkes memories. Raven had the same thoughtful look on her face as Clarke did.

"Yeah."

"I'm so happy the two of you are still friends." Octavia commented and the two other girls smiled. Raven reached out and lightly took Clarke's hand to give it a squeeze.

"We are too." Clarke said and she really, really meant it.


	10. Chapter 10

"So can I take your piece with this one?" Charlotte asked, gesturing with her bishop and directing it at Bellamys last pawn.

"You can, but you might wanna try moving your queen instead." Bellamy hinted. He was sat opposite young Charlotte teaching her to play chess while she was waiting for her operation. She was all prepared but clearly scared. Bellamy worried about her because she'd asked her parents not to be there. They had been asked to wait upstairs in the visitor Café until she was out.

"So I thinking about my superhero name." Charlotte said as Bellamy moved his knight around pointlessly. He wasn't trying to win. He nodded for her to continue her thought. "Super Leg Girl?"

Bellamy couldn't help but laugh. "You can't have that!"

"Like you could do better." Charlotte said bitterly.

"How about... Kicker?" He suggested and she smiled brightly. She liked it.

"So if I take this piece isn't that check?" She asked as Bellamy had purposely cornered himself.

"Check.." he lead her quickly to see if the patient would remember.

"Mate! Check mate!" Charlotte was so excited. Bellamy found it hard to remember that she wasn't just a normal girl and instead that she was waiting for an operation to remove her leg of the cancer that inhabited there.

"Trying to score dates off kids now?" Clarke said from the doorway. Charlotte looked a little confused, but not a lot surprised her between the two adults. They were very weird together and she'd gotten used to the kind of weird remarks they made like that one.

"Just teaching her. She'll be able to beat you after a couple more games." Bellamy raised his eyebrows. "We still haven't played our last game yet." Clarke thought about the implications of that remark. Did he still want a date? She turned her attention to Charlotte.

"You ready kid?" Charlotte tensed up visibly in front of Bellamy.

"It's alright kicker. We'll be right outside waiting for you." Bellamy got of his position sitting cross legged at the end of her bed and Clarke started preparing the bed to move her.

In truth, Clarke knew just how worried Bellamy was about Charlotte. His hair was a tangled black mess from where he had been running his fingers through them. He looked tired, especially more than usual, and the nurses had said he'd been up dozens of times during the night.

She'd be lying if she told herself she wasn't just as worried as Bellamy. The last thing this kid needed was yet more complications.

Being a doctor obviously she knew the risks but she also knew there was very little reason to be scared for little Charlotte. The complications on this surgery were usually very small and the operation was more or less risk free otherwise they wouldn't do it.

It didn't stop her from freaking out.

Two other doctors wheeled Charlotte out of her room as Clarke was supposed to be off duty right now. She had scheduled it so she could be there with her when she was in the operating room.

Bellamy and Clarke walked beside each other slowly, both trying to look brave for their friend. Clarke did it better than Bellamy, who still looked petrified.

"Brave." Bellamy commented quietly.

"She is." Clarke agreed.

"She wasn't the only one I was talking about." He gave Clarke a knowing look "Brave Princess."

Clarke didn't think she was being brave about anything. She didn't understand what he meant, but she

They stopped and got told they couldn't go any further so they had to say goodbye to Charlotte.

"You'll do great in there. Just relax." Clarke said gently to Charlotte.

"I'm scared."

"Hey Kicker, say it with me. 'Screw you cancer. I'm not afraid.'" Bellamy told her.

"Screw you cancer. I am not afraid." She said quietly and Clarke took her hand.

"Louder." She encouraged. Charlotte broke out a grin.

"Screw you cancer! I am not afraid."

"Slay your demons kids." Bellamy muttered to her and Clarke squeezed her hand lightly. Charlotte looked down at her legs and wiggled her toes under the blanket. She nodded and let go of Clarke's hand, and then she got taken away.

Clarke directed Bellamy into a small waiting room which was designed to be used for families waiting for people to finish in the operating room. As Clarke was a doctor and Bellamy was a patient, they could both be in here as they weren't breaking the rule of not having non-family members in there.

There was just a small table and a few chairs, then a section clearly meant for children. It had a couple of brightly coloured beanbags laid out, some books, some board games and a few toys scattered here and there.

Bellamy had started to look very uncomfortable and Clarke realised his ribs must be hurting by now. She took a seat at the table but Bellamy say in the kids section and leaned against a beanbag. He winced.

They both knew what was on their minds, but didn't think they should talk about it. Clarke was sure Bellamy would ask what the procedure's risks were and she didn't want to say. They ranged from slight pain to the wound not healing or infections which could cause serious, serious issues.

"What's it like breaking your ribs?" Clarke asked.

He paused, thinking about it. "You're a doctor, you must have asked that before." She shook her head. "Okay. I felt like I had a stack on bricks on my chest. I couldn't breathe, so I felt sick and dizzy. It hurt to move and every time I did it felt like an electric shock was going through me. I've never felt anything like it before."

"Still not going to tell me how you did it then?" Clarke moved so she was leaning on the beanbag opposite Bellamy. She picked up a toy gun from basket of toys next to her. "Were you beaten up by the mafia?"

"No, I'm afraid not. And I can't tell you... Not while it's still a secret." He hushed his voice for dramatic effect. "A big secret."

"Fine. Am I ever going to find out?" Bellamy thought very carefully about how he could say this.

"I'm sure you will. Somebody won't be able to keep it secret."

To her, this seemed suspicious, but she decided against trying to push it out of him. If he didn't want her to know, then it didn't need to be known. Still she hoped she'd find out someday.

It has occurred to both of them that when Bellamy left the hospital they wouldn't hang out. Octavia might not like it, or Raven might not like Bellamy so he couldn't hang out at her house. Still that didn't mean they weren't going to keep hanging out in his last few days at the Ark.

"So, tell me Blake, what's the plan?"

"The plan?" She pretended to shoot him with the gun.

"You know, the big plan for the rest of your life. Everybody's got one. What are you going off to do? Retire to the South of France and take photographs?"

"Oh." Bellamy thought about it. Obviously he'd considered what he was going to do with his life, but nobody's ever asked. He was a car mechanic. Everybody just assumed that's what he was going to do for the rest of his life. But of course he'd considered doing something different. He noticed Clarke was waiting patiently for his answer.

Something Bellamy had never considered before was spending his life with something. He'd never met his dad, and the men his mum brought home never lasted long. He'd never seen a stable, long-term relationship. Except maybe Lincoln and his sister. He supposed they counted as long-term now.

So he'd never seen himself settling down with anyone. The idea of being with the same person every day for the rest of his life seemed so abnormal. Everybody left eventually. His mother had taught him that before she went too. That meant that no plan he'd ever devised ever factored in any other person in life except Octavia. She was the only person he cared about.

Yet, as he looked at Clarke. Her big, beautiful eyes fixed on him, the soft pink highlighting her cheeks and cascading over the gentle slope of a slight smile. He stared at her golden hair still pulled back, but the colour like honey grizzled over toast was enough to confirm it's beauty. He looked at her, and suddenly he was so sure.


	11. Chapter 11

"My big plan...I always told myself I'd do what I always wanted to when Octavia was big enough. I want to go back to school and study mechanics or physics. I want to become a teacher. Work in a high school or a college maybe. I always liked helping Octavia with her school work. So yeah. I'd look into that. Then, who knows? Maybe I'd move around. Maybe I'll have a couple of little Bellamys one day. Then retire to the California or something. France speak a different language." He explained, shifting around against the beanbag, a little uncomfortable about sharing.

"Wow. That wasn't what I expected, but I think it's great. Teaching, huh? Kinda suits you." Clarke said.

"So how about you Princess? Any big plans?"

"That's tricky. I've just always had this dream about becoming a doctor. I never considered what I'd do after that." She played around with the sleeve of her shirt, considering it.

"Well, I guess that's the good bit. You get to find a new dream." Bellamy said. Clarke thought it sounded familiar.

"That's from Tangled! I made you watch that." They laughed and Bellamy touched the side of his ribs gently.

"You alright? We can go back to your room if you'd prefer."

"I'm fine, it's just getting a bit more painful." Bellamy admitted, and was glad that Clarke didn't look overly concerned.

"Let me take a look, but it's probably just your body reacting to being taken off medication for them. You've been on it for a while now." Bellamy pulled up a section of his hospital-given shirt for Clarke to look at. She rubbed her hands together so they were a little warm and pressed lightly on one of his previously broken ribs. He tensed up while Clarke tried to feel any abnormalities. She moved her hands across to another rib, just above it. He'd broken 3 altogether, but the two on his right side were worse.

"I can't feel anything wrong. The muscles still a little tender, but that's expected. That's probably what you're experiencing. She pushed 3 fingers onto the border of his muscle and he automatically tried to move away, but relaxed a little when the pain lowered considerably. Clarke told one of his hands and spread his fingers over the side of his ribcage.

"Feel the difference?" She asked as she pushed his fingers a little. Never taking his eyes off her Bellamy muttered a general agreement but couldn't help but feel distracted by the fact that Clarke was touching his bare skin and his hand. Her hands were soft and very gentle. She seemed to notice as well because she stopped talking and simply looked at Bellamy. Bellamy urged himself to go forwards and did so as painlessly as he could. Clarke didn't move towards him, and didn't move away either which Bellamy told to be a good sign.

As soon as he was a few inches away from kissing her Bellamy panicked. She wasn't showing any indication of emotions on her face and she was impossible to read. He paused for a fraction of a second and that was all the time Clarke needed to move back. She pulled his shirt back to it's original place, not showing any skin and moved back to where she'd been sitting down.

"See, so it's nothing to worry about." She commented and Bellamy cleared his throat.

"How do you think she's going?" Bellamy asked and both of them turned their attention to the door as if somebody would magically come in and tell them. Clarke sighed.

"I wish there was something more I could have done. Treatments, anything." She explained. Bellamy didn't now much about medicine, but he did know Clarke.

"You've done everything you could have done and more. She knows that. Everybody knows that. This is the best chance for her." They remained silent, Clarke thinking about Bellamy's words and considering them. Logically she knew she'd done what she could. The surgery would save her life. But she still wanted to wish for a miracle.

"Man, for a gang member, you're pretty nice." She said finally, grinning at him.

"Gang member? I thought we'd cleared this up."

"Well I don't believe you. I reckon you got beaten up while trying to run away with your mob leader's daughter who he'd overly-protective of. Or. wait! You accidentally set the alarm off while you bugged your rival gangs drug house. Or you-"

"I'm not a walking stereotype you know. I'm not in a gang." Bellamy thought about it for a second "Look, I can't tell you why I'm in here yet, but once I get out, I can show you? If you'll let me."

"And there's no chance of me getting shot?" She eyed him up suspiciously as he shook his head "Doesn't this sort of nullify our agreement? About chess."

"Ah, no. This is not me asking you out on a date. This is simply me, asking you to accompany me to a mystery location, whereabouts unknown, for a mystery event or a mystery reason." He grinned. "Not date-y at all."

"It sort of sounds like a date that would end in me getting murdered, but fine." Bellamy couldn't believe his luck. Now he didn't have to be so worried about not seeing Clarke after he left the hospital.

"Told you, you don't get rid of me that easily." Bellamy coxed and Clarke budged over to him and pushed him playfully on the arm. He pushed back, just a little bit harder and this continued until Bellamy caught hold of Clarke's hand before she could hit him. Neither of them moved. Even if the positioning was a bit awkward the pair were holding hands and both liked it.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and just before it opened Clarke sprang up on her feet. Two boys walked in a little awkwardly, looking around. One had floppy dark hair and a pale complexion and the other had scruffy brown hair and was considerably taller than the boy to his side. Clarke did not recognize either of them, but Bellamy did.

"Monty! Jasper! What are you too doing here?" Bellamy hauled himself up as best he could to come over to greet the two smiling boys. They hugged quickly, both of them careful with his ribs.

"Clarke, meet two of the best mechanics I have. Monty Green." He indicated to the smaller boy. "And Jasper Jordan." He gestured to the taller one. "This boys, is my doctor, and friend, Clarke Griffin."

"Nice to meet you both." She smiled and outstretched her hand, shaking each of theirs in turn and somehow a little disappointed that it wasn't Bellamy's hand in her's instead.

"So boys." Bellamy said. "Tell me everything that's been happening."


	12. Chapter 12

Jasper and Monty explained how well the shop was doing while the four of them sat down, and Bellamy was told Kane, the owner of their garage, sent his wishes. Apparently he'd agreed to let the boys go today under the condition they stop making 'rib jokes'. Clarke wasn't sure she wanted to know what they were.

"What's the hospital been like?" Jasper asked and Bellamy took a fleeting glance at Clarke.

"Surprisingly, I've liked it. The people are nice. Doctors are strict and the food sucks since I stopped getting my pudding cups." Clarke laughed and although Jasper and Monty looked confused, they both laughed lightly at Bellamys comments.

"So guys, the great mystery Blake hasn't told me much about you two."

"Well. We both obviously work with Bellamy and are better than him at his job." Monty began.

"We both love electronics and we're actually room mates too so we work on projects together." Jasper continued and Clarke thought it was cute they carried on the same ideas.

"Jasper here spends too long in the bathroom." Monty joked and Jasper pushed him playfully.

"Montys basically trashed our flat recently. He's trying, and failing to build up earpieces for gaming. He doesn't like the shop ones, he's such a genius he can do it better than the professionals." Jasper pushed Monty back with his hip so they were sat dead next to each other at the table. Clarke noticed both of them had one hand under the table, and she bet they were entwined under there. She thought they seemed very sweet together.

"I didn't wanna bring it up, but Clarke yes, I am a genius." Monty said.

Bellamy decided to interrupt them "Both of you are practical geniuses. Tell them about college.". The two look embarrassed.

"Um, Monty and I are actually in night college right now both getting a degree in chemistry."

"That's awesome. Wait, why didn't you go to college before?" Clarke asked and noticed all three of the boys grinned.

"Sadly we were caught with illegal substances on campus so they booted our asses." Monty said putting his hands up like he'd been caught.

"Yeah. We've been clean ever since. Biggest mistake of our lives." Clarke wasn't sure quite what to say. If the two really were as smart as Bellamy said, it was a shame they made a stupid choice.

"So neither of you know what Bellamy did to end up here do you?" Clarke couldn't resist.

"No." They spoke in unison. The three of them looked at Bellamy who simply shrugged. Clarke decided not to mention that Bellamy had volunteered to show Clarke whatever he had to show her.

"So why are you down here then? I'm guessing this isn't your room." Monty looked around at the waiting area. Clarke looked down at her hands sadly.

"Our friend is having surgery right now. She's only young so we wanted to be here." Bellamy explained.

"This is the waiting room, its normally used for families." Clarke added and the pair of boys nodded.

"She's got another few hours in surgery, then it'll take a while for her to come around yet." Monty and Jasper looked worried, but a little surprised. Clarke supposed the timing indicated a serious procedure.  
"Tell you guys what, there's a coffee shop right down the road, we'll go grab us all some drinks and some breakfast as you'll be in for a long day." Jasper suggested and Monty agreed.

"Thanks guys, that would be great." Bellamy said and they headed off pretty quickly, feeling like they were intruding on a personal time for Bellamy and Clarke.

"I'm sorry if you're a bit uncomfortable with them here." Bellamy apologized.

"Don't be silly, I like them. They seemed like a cute couple too." Bellamy's eyes practically doubled in size he widened them so much. He looked so utterly shocked that if forced Clarke to laugh even if she tried to stifle it. "You can't be surprised. Bellamy, they were holding hands together. Did you see the way they were together? How is this a surprise to you?"

"I...I just guessed they were good friends. I mean they've been friends for years. They live together.." Bellamy looked like he was trying to wrap his head around the idea of the two of them dating. "Well, good for them." He added.

Bellamy recalled his best memories of Jasper and Monty to Clarke who liked hearing them. She liked hearing about Bellamy's past, and Jasper and Monty provided some very funny memories. Apparently Monty once burnt off Jasper's eyebrows experimenting with chemicals in the sink and forgetting to tell Jasper about it. And Jasper once left his electrical crap out all over the floor, not unlike Raven did, and Monty stepped on it and still has a scar on his foot from the burn he got. Jasper had forgotten to turn the thing off and it had practically boiled on the floor.

The boys came back through the door, and Clarke checked Bellamy's facial expression when the two turned up holding hands, Monty carrying a container full of coffee and Jasper carrying a bag of food in his other hand. Bellamy couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"What the hell guys? You finally both get into a relationship and it seems like I'm the last to know." He burst out and the two just laughed.

"We didn't think it was that bigger deal. Wait, you thought we were gonna get together?" Monty asked.

"No. I thought you'd be in different relationships honestly. Jasper's been so obsessed with my sister, I thought it would never happen for him though." Jasper looked outraged.

"You knew?" He exclaimed and now it was Monty and Bellamy's chance to laugh.

"Yes. Was it a secret? 'Oh Octavia, you look so pretty today. Oh Octavia, I think you're so cool. Oh Octavia, I wanna have your babies!" Bellamy mocked. Jasper turned bright red and Monty hugged him from the side.

"Come on mate, you were hardly subtle." Monty pointed out.

"Fine. But I'm over her." Jasper pointed out and stared with a huge goofy smile on his face at Monty who still hadn't let go of Jasper's middle.

"So, catch me up here man, when did this even happen? How did it happen? Last time I checked, neither of you had some raging crush on the other." Bellamy pointed out, and now it was Monty's chance to look embarrassed.

"Well actually mate.." He trailed off and Bellamy's eyebrows shot up.

"Great." Bellamy muttered. "Something else I didn't know." He shot a look at Clarke who'd been watching the entire conversation with a bemused grin on her face.

"Look, we would have told you, but it only happened like two weeks ago and you've been in here. There wasn't a lot of opportunity."

"Oh, so is there a story?" Clarke chipped in. "Let's hear in then. Please?"


	13. Chapter 13

Jonty and Monty had been working for too many hours already at the garage and were both sleepy and wanting to go home. Unfortunately with the recent absence of Bellamy, they had to be working double shifts and extra time. They'd not really appreciated how hard Bellamy had worked till he was off.

"Come on man, I'm tired I just want to go home. Hurry up." Monty complained. Jasper had been under the car for almost an hour trying to see what the problem was with no luck yet, and he was bored.

"Give me another few minutes." Jasper complained.

"Just leave it. We can go home, I can make you those waffles you like." Monty bribed. He just wanted to go home and chill. Being in work, in this small space wasn't an ideal situation. Recently, Jasper had been acting a little funny around Monty. He wasn't keen on hanging out much at home, and he's stopped revising with him. He was much quieter in college and work. It sucked.

Monty had been in love with Jasper for years now, and before he was fine with them being friends but now it felt like Jasper was barely his friend anymore he hated it.

He'd figured it had something to do with the fact Bellamy hadn't been around too much so therefore they hadn't seen Octavia much. Monty had tried to dislike Octavia to start off with. Jasper's crush on her was so infuriating and she had a boyfriend and Monty just wanted Jasper to see it wasn't gonna happen, but he didn't and it just hurt Jasper. However, Monty had actually gotten to know her and she was really nice. He didn't really see why Jasper liked her in that way, but she was pretty cool.

Monty had started liking Jasper around the same time they'd started planning to go off to college together. They'd been friends for so long, but Monty realized just how much he needed Jasper and exactly how he felt about him. He'd been brave enough to admit to Jasper that he was gay ages ago, something he'd known already and had even had his first relationship with a guy named Miller. Miller had been great, but they'd decided they hadn't really been right for each other anyway. They were still good friends though. But he didn't think he was brave enough to admit to Jasper just how he felt.

He wasn't naive enough to believe Jasper felt the same way about him. He was smart enough to see that Jasper liked girls and eventually he assumed his feelings for Jasper would just pass. Not so far though.

"You go. I'm fine." Jasper said bluntly and Monty felt pissed.

"What's your problem Jasper?"

"My problem is you won't piss off and leave me to do this. In case you haven't noticed, we're short staffed. And some of us aren't happy just lounging around with Bellamy away." Jasper still didn't emerge from under the car.

"I'm not talking about now. You've been acting weird for ages now man. Did I do something wrong? Or are you finally going through puberty? I doubt it though, because you're acting like such a child."

"I'm acting like a child? You're-" Jasper didn't finish his sentence as he'd tried to stand up, forgetting he was still under the car and smacked his head so hard he was knocked out for a few moments.

"What the..?" Monty asked and pulled Jasper out. His head didn't look too bad, and he was already coming around, his eyes unfocused staring at Monty. Monty quickly sat him up to see how bad he was.

"Jasper? Jasper? You alright man?" He shook his shoulders gently, wanting to know if he needed to call an ambulance. He tried to look at Jasper's eyes to see if they were glassy or unfocused.

Jasper took him by surprise, moving his head forward and planting his lips on Monty's for a couple seconds. Monty was too shocked to even move. Jasper pulled away, staring at his best friend and opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something. Instead of words though, vomit came out of his mouth and Monty moved his time to catch his friend as he tumbled to the side. He wasn't knocked out, but Monty wasn't taking any chances. He called 911, trying not to dwell on what just happened.

The ambulance crew said that Jasper was fine, he just knocked himself a little too hard. He didn't have a concussion, he was just over tired, under fed and needed a decent amount of rest. They left the pair. Jasper was sat on a bench and Monty was leaning against the car Jasper had been so set on repairing. Both thanked the paramedics but remained silent towards each other.

"Do you need a drink?" Monty asked bluntly and crossed his arms.

"I'll get it." Jasper tried to get up but Monty wasn't having it.

"Sit." He said harshly and Jasper sat, staring at his feet while Monty poured him a mug of cold water.

"Thanks." Jasper said quietly and the pair returned to silence. "Look Monty, I.." He trailed off, unsure of what he could possibly say to make this situation any better.

"I get it Jasp." He thought about how to phrase it. "You were confused. Not focusing. Calm down, it's not a big deal. Hey, you knocked your head so hard I probably looked like Octavia. Just forget about it."

Jasper tried not to show how hurt he was. "Sure man." He gave a half hearted smile. "Must'a been it." He'd tried to get up from the under the car to try and explain the reason he'd been so off his Monty recently. He knew he'd been acting like a dick, but he wasn't sure how he could act. He liked Monty. Really liked him. And his feelings were confusing, and weird, and he didn't like them. So he'd stupidly trying to push Monty away in hope it would just make the feelings just go away.

"Let's get you home." Monty drove them back to there apartment and although it was only 10:30pm, they both headed off to bed. Jasper stayed up for a while but was far too tired not to let himself drop off.

Monty however, couldn't sleep. He couldn't believe how'd he'd acted towards Jasper kissing him. It was all he'd wanted for so long, he couldn't remember what he'd wanted before that. Well, actually he'd wanted to be an astronaut but that wasn't the point.

After a few hours of tossing and turning in his bed, Monty decided he would get up and get a drink so headed out to the apartment only to find Jasper standing just out in the kitchen. The two stared at each other for a few moments, both having no idea what to say. Monty took a few steps towards his friend who kinda looked like a deer about to be hit by a car.

"I wasn't confused." Jasper blurted out and Monty resisted the urge to smile like a maniac. Instead he rushed to Jasper and kissed him with everything he had. Jaspers hands threaded in Monty's hair as he tilted his head downwards to meet Monty's kiss. Jasper smiled against Monty's lips and they both broke apart both grinning. "I've never been more sure of anything." Jasper admitted and kissed him again. Hands got tangled and they weren't perfectly in sync like romance novels always said people kissing were, but it was nothing less of perfect.

Eventually they stopped, despite neither of them wanting to. Jasper planted a quick kiss on top of Monty's forehead and brought him in for a tight hug.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk recently."

"You have been. But at least you're my jerk." Monty said, and they both laughed.

"I just...this was complicated for me. I wasn't sure you..well that you.." Jasper tried to explain but couldn't get the words right.

"Felt the same? Took you a while to catch on man." Monty couldn't believe his friend.

"A while?"

"Try a couple of years. God you're slow." He pulled his head down for another kiss.

Jasper wanted to clarify everything before they did anything. "So, are we? Like. I want to. So if you do.."

"Are you always this articulate?" Monty joked. "Yes, Jasper Jordan, I want to be your boyfriend."

"Really? I want to be too. Awesome." Monty shook his head, not entirely sure this wasn't a dream, however the feeling of Jasper's warm finger in-between his seemed reassuring.

**************************************************************

Of course Jasper and Monty didn't feel like they should share this much detail with Clarke and Bellamy. They told a simplified version simply where Jasper hit his head and kissed Monty. Short and sweet.

Bellamy listened intently "I'm happy for you two." He said, wondering how he'd missed the fact that these goofballs were totally in love with each other. He couldn't help but a little jealous it had seemed to come quite easy for the two of them, but he couldn't figure out what to do about Clarke.

Maybe he needed to just let it happen. But then again, a plan seemed more appealing.


	14. Chapter 14

Monty and Jasper had to go back to work after they ate their food and drank their coffee. They informed Clarke that Bellamy worked way too hard so they weren't used to have so much to handle.

"Still its a nice vacation for him here." Monty said as they departed. Clarke laughed at the idea of the Ark being a vacation destination, it was so stressful.

"So who's that John guy they mentioned would be coming?" Clarke asked, sipping at her cold coffee because it was better than the hospital crap.

"Murphy. He's my roommate."

"You've mentioned him. What's his deal then? They didn't seem to like him that much, and you don't either." Clarke couldn't help but be really curious. Now she'd gotten a glimpse of Bellamys past, she wanted to know more.

"Murphy.. has been in jail for 8 years. Juvenal for murder. That's all I know, but if means Jasper and Monty over there are terrified of him." Clarke was more than a little shocked at that response. A murderer?

"What about you?" She asked.

"Me? Look, Murphy's a dick but I have a hard enough time believing he killed anybody before, let alone would do it again. He's got a decent job, he pays the rent on time, every time, and he pretty much keeps to himself. Couldn't ask for a better roommate." Bellamy explains.

It was true. Murphy hardly leaves his room other than to eat cereal. He works as a janitor and handyman at a local school and rarely talks other than the necessitates. He never had people over and wasn't interested in the TV much so Bellamy could basically do what he wanted.

Murphy seemed harmless to everything but his weekly food budget, but did kind of have a whole 'screw the world' attitude going on. He never tried interacting with people, he never bothering with friends. Bellamy was much more of a people pleaser, as long as it didn't mess up what he wanted or needed for himself.

It was funny having Monty and Jasper afraid of him though. Sometimes when they came over and Murphy walks out of his bedroom, he two boys would noticeably tense up. The worse people they'd ever been around had been stoners, and they did nothing all day.

"If you're sure, I'm sure he'll be great." Clarke tried to fake enthusiasm but it was never one of her strong points.

"I doubt he'll even come. Or he'll just pop in quickly to ask what the washing machine does." Bellamy had a moment of realization "Oh god, my apartments gonna be trashed." He moaned.

Bellamy had a weird thing about cleaning. Since his mum passed when they were young, he had to take on her roll. And Octavia didn't like chores, so Bellamy did everything. When cleaning, Bellamy was always so worried about Octavia catching something he'd scrub the entire place cleaner than a bottle of bleach.

He'd gotten so used to it that the habit hadn't died down when he'd moved. Murphy was relatively tidy, but Bellamy did all this laundry and dishes because he liked them being done in a certain way.

"Don't worry about that right now." Clarke reassured him. "How about a game of scrabble and I'll go find out how she's doing?" Bellamy agreed happily, although he might have preferred a game of chess, and she headed off.

There was no news which wasn't necessarily a bad sign, but it made Clarke scared witless. She was still in the operating room and would be for longer, but Clarke's mind raced wondering what could have gone wrong up to this point. The second she got back through the door with scrabble, Bellamy looked up quickly.

"How is she?" He asked, worry plaguing his voice. Clarke gulped and had an overwhelming urge to throw up.

"Fine. They say everything's going fine so far." She lied. It was the only way to ease his mind a little, and Clarke knew she'd be okay. Strongest girl she knew. Guilt washed over her but was quickly replaced with contentment as she saw the look on Bellamy's change to one of relief.

"Scrabble?" She quickly asked, as she began to set up.

***************************************************************

Clarke went out a further 3 times to find out about Charlotte, and only on the third did she get an answer. She was doing okay. It had been over 5 hours, so they surgery wasn't quite over yet, but they were over the mountain. Scrabble had passed the time quite quickly, and they talked about nothing much for quite a long time. Clarke always liked her conversations with Bellamy, even if they were about nothing.

Clarke made sure somebody informed Charlotte's parents before she went in and confirmed to Bellamy that she was doing fine. Bellamy felt so relived he could have cried.

"Princess, that's fantastic news." Bellamy gushed and Clarke walked over and threw her arms around him into a hug. She was so glad she hadn't been wrong and so happy her friend was okay. Bellamy wrapped his arms around her and one reached up to her back to stroke it gently. It was the best feeling in the world to have her in his arms.

"Am I interrupting something?" A deep voice from the doorway spoke and Clarke jumped from Bellamy.

"I cannot catch a break." Bellamy muttered under his breath so not even Clarke to hear.

The man spoke again "I can go." he said bluntly. His face was pale and unsmiling, and although it was swept back, his long hair was messy and untamed. His hands remained in his pockets and he looked so uncomfortable Clarke felt it too. This had to be Murphy.

"Hey Murphy, meet Clarke my doctor." He gestured at Clarke and she held out her hand. The stranger offered her a small slanted smile and a handshake that was very brief.

"So, not dead then." Murphy pointed out to Bellamy as they shook hands once like a greeting.

"I will be once I see the state you've left the apartment in." Bellamy grinned and glanced at Clarke, offering her a reassuring look.

"You're not the only one who can do a bit of dusting Blake." He turned his attention to Clarke. "Has he been giving you much trouble?" His small smile, Clarke noticed, was still there and she realized he probably wasn't that bad. Hearing that somebody had murdered somebody, she probably just jumped to conclusions. John Murphy couldn't be much older than 22, which would make him barley a teenager when he went to jail. There had to be a reason, or it must have been a mistake or something.

"He's been manageable. Although I don't know how you could live with him." Clarke joked as Murphy strolled round the room.

"Me neither. So, what Blake, do you sleep on the table or on the beanbag? When I got told your sorry ass was down here I assumed I'd see your room."

"We're waiting for a friend to get out of surgery." Bellamy explained the situation with Charlotte to him and Murphy just simply nodded at the right moments.

"Cancer's a bitch. Poor kid." he pointed out. Clarke checked her watch. Charlotte didn't have too long before she's be awake now, they were probably moving her up to her room at any minute. She poked her head out of the door and didn't see anybody.

"Excuse me?" She asked a passing doctor. "Have you seen a patient, small girl, blonde? Just been in surgery?"

"Yes m'am, they moved that girl up to her ward." They said and then scarped off in a rush. Clarke turned back to the boys.

"Bellamy, we gotta go. They've moved her already." The last thing Clarke wanted was for Charlotte to wake up by herself. Bellamy turned to Murphy as best he could with his ribs.

"I've still got to have a few words with you, can you come?" Murphy nodded and they started to walk. Clarke was highly concerned about the fact Bellamy was bringing a stranger, who'd been to jail for murder, to see Charlotte waking up, but there wasn't a lot she could do except hope Murphy stayed outside.

Charlotte had been put in her room and had a drip in and was being monitored so Clarke quickly looked over everything. It was looking good. The leg was hidden by a hospital blanket and Clarke felt it would be wrong to check it.

"We should go get her parents Clarke. They should be here." Bellamy said quietly. Clarke looked at Charlotte who was still sleeping and decided they should go now. "Murphy, can you keep an eye on her?" Again, Murphy nodded and Bellamy pulled Clarke away before she could say anything in protest. Charlotte having her family there was more important right now.

Murphy slumped into the chair beside Charlotte and looked around the room. He hated this place. He felt guilty that he hadn't visited Bellamy before though, so he'd made an effort when Jasper and Monty had told him they were going.

"Who the hell are you?" A hoarse voice crocked from the bed and Murphy felt his heart race in panic. She was awake and nobody else was here.


	15. Chapter 15

"Who are you?" She repeated as Murphy remained frozen in horror. He didn't know his girl, he should be here. She started coughing, and her throat sounded so dry Murphy jumped up to get water. There was a jug and a cup on the table next to her, and he poured her some and passed it to her gently.

"Urh, John Murphy. But everybody just calls me Murphy." He answered.

"Why?" She asked, the question catching him of guard. He'd never been asked before.

"I guess they just do." He shrugged.

"I'm Charlotte." She tried moving in her bed but the lack of leg was very confusing.

"I'm a friend of Bellamy's. And Clarke's. They've been waiting downstairs for you for your whole surgery, but they're just going to get your parents." Murphy wasn't sure what to say to reassure her. "They'll be back soon."

"You look grumpy." Charlotte pointed out as Murphy say back down. He frowned.

"Whatever kid, we're not all happy clowns."

"No, I mean you look sad." She emphasized. "Slay your demons." Murphy was shocked at her comment.

"What?"

"Slay your demons while you're awake, and they won't be there to get you while you sleep." Charlotte recited, looking up at the ceiling while she tried to remember.

"Um, thanks. I'll...try." Murphy felt bad for her, she kept looking down at her leg. Or where the leg should be underneath the blanket.

Charlotte started to poke at the thigh of her missing leg. "I used to have demons too. Can you show me my leg now?" Murphy didn't think he could say no, so he pulled up the blanket so Charlotte could look underneath. Her face stayed frozen in shock so he quickly put it back.

"They'll put in a fake one." Murphy promised her. "You'll get used to it." It was under bandages right now, so at least she couldn't see too much.

Murphy couldn't force himself to look at Charlotte for too long. It was an unfair fate for a seemingly nice child.

"I know...it's just not fair." Charlotte's voice broke a little as she spoke but Murphy didn't feel her statement was justified.

"Kid, life's not fair." He said bluntly.

"Oh yeah?" Her eyes narrowed. "What about you? Is your life not fair, is that why you look so sad?"

"I don't look.." Murphy sighed. "Alright, you wanna know what an unfair life is? Imagine a kid who has everything. His mum and his dad love him and it's all perfect and great. In fact, the kid's dad loved him so much that even though it's snowing and awful, the dad pops out to the store to get his kid some medication because he's just a bit sick. No big deal." Charlotte continues to listen intently to his story as Murphy takes a deep breath and continues.

"And then he crashes. And the dad dies the mum just keeps telling the kid it's his fault. He's the reason his dad died." Murphy chuckled a little which made Charlotte uncomfortable for the first time around him.

"But it's okay, because the mum get's remarried. But to this awful, evil man who hits her and shouts at her and upsets her all the time. And the mum's never happy and she keeps telling her son, in secret, that she wishes that the evil man would go away. That he would just leave. So one night the kid...he kills the evil man. Because it was the only way to make him go away. And the kid gets taken to jail. And the mum never talks to him again. Turns out, she didn't want the evil man to go away. Not really. Cause, I hate to break this to you Charlotte, but the only thing that's unfair in this life is the people." Charlotte hadn't realized Murphy was crying until he wiped his face very quickly.

"Yeah, life's a bitch. But it's the best you're gonna get, so you're gonna put on your fake leg when you get one and you'll be the best damn little girl you can be. And you're going to make your parents proud and they're never gonna wanna leave you. They'll love you. So, suck it up." Murphy finished and look a little surprised at himself.

"Sorry. I know you're young. You shouldn't have had to hear that."

"No, I like it. You're treating me like a person for once. Thank you...John." Murphy wasn't sure quite how to react to his real name. Luckily he didn't have to. As her parents, Clarke and Bellamy walked into the room. Her parents ignored Murphy and ran to hug their child tightly. Her mum was crying.

"Hey guys. Nice of you to join the party." Murphy commented to Clarke and Bellamy who looked bemused.

Clarke lowered her voice. "I need you guys around all the time." she whispered. "You seem to do better with my patients than I do."

"I don't know Princess. You made me feel very welcome by hitting on me all day long." Clarke resisted the urge to tell him to shut it and instead just smiled at the goofball. Murphy couldn't help but notice.

"Wait...You two aren't...are you?"

"No!" They both said at the same time, making Charlotte's parents turn around.

"Sorry, we'll give you guys some space." Clarke apologized.

"John, can you come back tomorrow please?" Charlotte asked and everybody in the room was shocked, Murphy included. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, not sure of how to respond.

"Sure thing kid. I'll, um, see you tomorrow." And he meant it.

The three of them left the room quietly to leave the family to talk and most likely cry a bit. Clarke had to admit that she did get a little uncomfortable around emotional families in the hospital. It was nice to have an reason to excuse herself for once.

"I'd best be heading off. I'll see you two tomorrow as well." Murphy whisked off before they could say anything or ask him what happened. Clarke and Bellamy remained there speechless for a few moments and then began to slowly walk back to Bellamy's room.

"Thank you. You and Murphy have been such a huge help with Charlotte recently and it's just...it means a lot to me. Out of curiosity, what did you say to her when she found out she was losing her leg? I mean, she was so upset, and then she was fine."

"I told her to talk to her parents about what she was scared about. She said she was worried about them leaving, so I said she should just ask and tell them what she was thinking." He explained.

"Bellamy, that's so great of you! You really helped her!" She grinned like crazy, so grateful that Bellamy had helped her friend. "Thank you so much, I could kiss you!" She laughed before realizing what she had said. Bellamy stopped for a moment and smiled his usual flirty half smile.

"Go on then Princess."


	16. Chapter 16

Clarke looked up at Bellamy to check his sincerity and was met with a undeniable seriousness. His eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips repeatedly, waiting for her move, but he could wait much longer.

He placed a hand to the side of her neck and face to tilt it upwards to meet him and he brought her very gently towards him. She didn't move.

"Bellamy. We shouldn't." She muttered quietly, even though they were alone in Bellamys room. Bellamy let go of the side of her face but gave her hair a quick stroke before moving away.

"You're probably right." He admitted. Sure, they shouldn't, but damn he wanted to.

"You're my patient, it would be ethically wrong. Besides, we've been at such close quarters these past few weeks, its normal that we might feel close." Bellamy nodded but didn't really agree with all this. "We've been spending a lot of time with each other."

"Well, I had to at least try and won at chess once." Bellamy joked and Clarke smiled too. Bellamy got back into his bed, noticeably tired.

"And I needed a friend." Clarke points out, passing him some fresh water from the side.

"Thanks." Then his voice turned cocky. "I suppose you're right, you just handle me. It's alright Princess, its normal." He figured the more they joked about it, the less awkward it would be.

"That must be it." Clarke said sarcastically. "I've got some work to do. Get some rest." And she headed out. Bellamy replied to some texts from Octavia quickly. She'd not been in the hospital too much recently because of how much she hated it. Bellamy didn't mind, but he did miss his little sister.

******

Clarke tried to keep herself busy so her mind didn't stray to Bellamy. She offered herself up for chores that anybody could do, she checked in on her patients as many times as she could to keep her thoughts occupied.

"Hey there." Clarke snapped round and scowled as Wells was standing behind her in the break room.

"What do you want Wells?" Her voice was cold. She had no kindness for the man who ratted out her father.

"Just wanted to tell you I'm leaving. End of the week. Not because of you, in case you get any ideas." He shrugged.

"Before you get any ideas, I don't care." Clarke said, turning her back on him again. It was difficult to look at somebody you were that close to before, and see a stranger. They'd done so much together. Been through every test, every all-nighter, every stupid little fact learning exercise. Yet here he was in front of her, and she didn't even know he was leaving the Ark.

"Look, I just don't want to leave knowing you hate me. Even if I got your dad in trouble..."

Clarke abruptly stopped him. "You didn't just get my father in trouble Wells, you've ruined his life. So yes, I do hate you. You were supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend Clarke. I'm a better friend to you than that Bellamy guy you've been spending so much time with." He said snidely.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Clarke could see Wells start to panic.

"I didn't mean it like that. I just... look, he's clearly trouble. He came in with classic signs of a criminal. He refused to tell anybody anything, no reason for his injuries and refused an investigation of any kind. Remember what we used to do when guys like him came in? We used to try and guess what crime they'd committed Clarke."

"You don't even know him." Clarke reasoned.

"What, and you do? You've known him for a few weeks, you've known me for years. We need to move past this whole thing."

"I can't move past it."

"So you can look past crimes but not past a foolish mistake I made? Is that how it works now? Provided you have a crush on the guy." Clarke wanted to slap him.

"That is none of your business you jerk. Stop being so pathetic. This is about my father, not Bellamy."

"I'm not being pathetic Clarke, I'm jealous of the guy. He got your attention in what, a month? I was in love with you for 5 years and I never got a second glance." His voice was raised and he was getting more flustered by the minute.

"You didn't get a second glance because I never liked you as more than a friend Wells. It's that simple. And I don't like Bellamy." She lied, and Wells took a couple of deep breaths and backed away a little bit.

"You promise? Because you know the Ark's attitude to this kind of thing." Wells asked.

"I know. But I don't like him." She lied again. So what? It wasn't going to happen even if she wanted it to, so there was no reason to tell Wells anything.

"Look Clarke, you need to just think about the situation with your father. Maybe then you'll consider my offer to be friends again. I leave for Mount Weather Hospital at the end of the week." He thought for a moment. "You can't trust Bellamy, Clarke. He's not right for you, and he'll be nothing but trouble. I don't want you getting fired." And he walked out, leaving Clarke steaming mad. She looked around the room, not sure of what to do. And then she thought about what she wanted to do.

Screw it.

She practically stormed down the corridors and didn't stop. Bellamy looked up the second she got in the room. He was on the phone with Octavia. He could see how angry she was immediately.

"Octavia, I gotta go, I'll call you back." He said and threw the phone onto his bed and raised his hands in defense, sure Clarke was mad at something he'd done, or for earlier. She walked towards him quickly, determined.

Her hands went around his neck before he could say anything and her lips pressed against his before he could even register what was happening. His arms were still outstretched which he realized and quickly wrapped them tightly around her. Their kiss was heated and fast, like they were both trying to make the most of it. He nibbled at her lip and she moaned. God did he like that sound. He lent back slightly so their lips were separated, then kissed her again, but slower. It was as gentle as loving as he could make it. It was what she deserved.

They both lost track of time, and it wasn't until Bellamy realized how painful his ribs were that he noticed how long they'd been standing their together. He winced as he pulled away from her, but still laughed slightly, unable to contain his happiness.

"Clarke?" Wells said from the doorway. Bellamy took a step back, thinking Wells might report them.

"I can explain." Clarke blurted to him but he just shook his head.

"Explain how you literally just told me you weren't going to do this?" He gestured to Bellamy. "You said you didn't even like him." Clarke's head snapped to Bellamy. He looked surprisingly neutral.

"No, Bellamy, that's not what I.." Clarke had no idea how to explain with Wells there.

"It's what you said Clarke. I'm sorry Bellamy but I think she's playing you." Wells pointed out. "I think she's playing both of us." And he left in a angry sulk. Bellamy stared at the floor rather than at Clarke.

"I think you should leave too." He said quietly.

"Bellamy, please, it's not like that. I was only telling him what he wanted to hear."

"Yeah. I think you do that a lot." Bellamy said. "I think you should leave." Clarke didn't know what to do. Bellamy didn't even want to look at her, let alone talk, so she reasoned that the best thing to do would be to leave him by himself until he calmed down and they could talk.

So she left.


	17. Chapter 17

Octavia was waiting for Lincoln to wake up when the buzzer for her apartment ran. She panicked, she wasn't expecting anybody, she was still in her pyjamas and her apartment was a mess.

The apartment was small enough already, but Octavia wasn't exactly the tidiest person out ever. Laundry was laid out everywhere, and dishes yet to be cleaned were left on the counter. Octavia rushed to the buzzer.

"Who is it?"

"Octavia, I'm glad you're being safe by checking but its freezing down here. Hurry up."

"Bellamy!" Octavia chirped and let him up. She realized Lincoln was in her bedroom. Oh crap.

"Lincoln! Lincoln, wake up! Bells here, you need to get dressed!" She pulled the covers off him and he groaned.

"Octavia. It's too early. Just shut the door, he won't come in. I'll get up in a minute." And he pulled the blanket back over himself while Octavia rushed to find a dressing gown. Bellamy knocked just as she was putting it on.

"Bellamy!" She said opening the door, greeted by a very tired looking Bellamy. His hair was messed up and he needed a shower by the looks of it, a couple scars here and there, but apart from that he seemed fine, considering a few weeks ago he'd been battered and bruised so much a few weeks ago.

"Hey O." He came in and took a seat in the kitchen.

"I thought you weren't leaving until tomorrow." Octavia glanced at her bedroom door, worried Lincoln would get up and come out without remembering, or if he'd be too loud or something.

"I wasn't, but I discharged myself. Didn't want to be in there much longer." Didn't want to be around Clarke he meant.

"Really? Because Clarkes at the hospital, and last I checked, you were pretty keen on her. Well, except for the part where you said no to dating her, but I'd like to believe that was the drugs talking."

"I did say that didn't I." Bellamy just had what might have had a horrible realization. "Oh God, O, I've messed up."

"See, I knew it was the drugs." Octavia started to pour Bellamy a bowl of his favorite cereal which she almost always kept in the house.

"She kissed me." Bellamy blurted out and Octavia spilt the milk she was pouting everywhere.

"Sorry, what?"

"Clarke kissed me. We were joking around and then she came to me later and kissed me. But then this Wells guy said she didn't like me, and that she'd said that to him. So I figured she was playing me and got the hell out of there." Bellamy put his head in his hands and groaned. "I messed up bad. I didn't give her a chance to explain."

"I know Clarke likes you Bellamy. That Wells guy is probably just messing with your head." Octavia recalled Clarke talking about Wells before.

"Look Octavia, I should go. Clarke starts her shift soon, so I could meet her. Raincheck, and I'll talk to you later?" Bellamy looked at the bowl in her hands. "Oh, sorry for wasting the cereal, I know you don't like it."

Octavia shrugged. "That's alright, I'll just give it to Lincoln." She froze as she realized what she'd said. And as if things couldn't get worse, a very shirtless Lincoln opened the door to her bedroom.

"Did you say you'd made me cereal Octavia? Thanks!" He returned into the bedroom to grab a shirt then ventured out, confusing to see both Bellamy and Octavia frozen. Octavia looked shameful and embarrassed, but Bellamy just looked calculating.

"I'm sorry Bell, it's just.." She trailed off. Bellamy took a deep breath.

"It's your life Octavia. I can't tell you what to do." He tried to force a smile, but he clenched his fists sightly tighter then if he was calm. He nodded at Lincoln who nodded back slightly, not wanting Octavia to see.

"Thanks Bell. It's important to me that you and Lincoln get along." Bellamy put on his coat again and started to head out, but turned away just as he was out the door.

"Just remember that if you get pregnant, I will cut off his d-" Octavia quickly slammed the door in Bellamy's face so he didn't finish.

"Love you too brother." She called. "Phew that was awkward."

"I'll say." Lincoln said, leaning against the counter already munching on the cereal Octavia had poured. Octavia slapped his arm lightly.

"I told you not to come out." She pointed out. Lincoln wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"I'm sorry, but you mentioned cereal and you know how hungry I get in the mornings." He kissed her forehead lightly as a way of apologizing. Octavia held him tight, just glad he was here more than anything.

Bellamy rushed to the hospital as quickly as he could and rehearsed what he was going to say to Clarke in his head. It needed to start with an apology at least. The rest was sort of blurry, but he hoped he'd simply make up something good on the spot.

The Ark was thriving despite the early time in the morning, and Bellamy having never been much of a morning person, hated to think about working here this early.

He asked at reception where he could find Doctor Griffin and he was told she would be up on the second floor. He headed straight up. He wondered around wards for a while before hearing his name.

"Clarke?" He said and turned to face Dr Griffin. Dr Abby Griffin.

"No. Bellamy Blake, I believe you discharged yourself a few hours ago, why are you still in the hospital?" She asked.

"Well, I..."

"If you're looking for my daughter, need I remind you that I asked you politely to stay away?"

"I know, and I understand your worry, but I promise you"

Abby wouldn't let him finish his sentence. "And I promise you, that if you care about my daughter, the best thing for you to do would be to stay away. She's a good girl, and she doesn't need a boy in her life." She explained.

"Isn't that for her to decide?" Bellamy asked.

"Not right now. She's still learning, she doesn't understand what's best for her yet. I'm her mother, I do know."

"But-"

"You know the boards been trying to transfer her to Mount Weather? She's a good doctor, they'd love her over there. Better job, better pay, better opportunities. But I told them she'd never take it. She likes it here, she likes her friends."

Abby looked him up and down. "Now, if Clarke was to do something here that wasn't in her best interests, I might have to insist to the board they move her. It's several hours away, maybe an 8 hour drive, but she'd still visit. But I'd only insist to the board if I thought she was better off there."

Bellamy frowned. "What are you saying?" Abby squared herself up to look a little bit threatening, although she didn't sound it. She seemed quite casual about the matter.

"I'm saying, stay away from my daughter, or I will do what's best for her, and you won't see her again."


	18. Chapter 18

"You can't do this." Bellamy said, completely outraged.

"I can, and if I think I have to, I will. I don't expect to see you around my daughter Mr Blake. Now please leave." Bellamy stormed away as fast as he could. Screw her. It was twisted of her to threaten that.

"Bellamy?" Clarke surprised him as they collided in the corridor. She stumbled a little with the force he bumped into her with, and he had to grip her arms to keep her from falling over.

"Clarke. I was just...I was just looking for you." He admitted.

"I was going to come find you, but they said you'd discharged yourself?" She asked, clearly confused.

Bellamy wasn't sure what to say. "I wanted to see Octavia. Besides, I was leaving tomorrow anyway." He brushed it off as if it wasn't a big deal. "Listen..."

"Bellamy, I should explain about before." Clarke looked like she was begging him to listen to her, and he really wanted to. But ideas of her stuck in Mount Weather away from her friends and her parents was too badder thought to let her continue.

"No, I need to say something. I understand. You don't like me in that way, the kiss was a fluke and was just out of pure...whatever. We agreed it wasn't a good idea, and we should stick by it. That kiss never happened, it didn't mean anything and I just wanna be your friend. Okay?" Bellamy needed her to say yes without arguing. He wasn't sure his self-control would be so good if she said anything against him, and if she tried to kiss him, which he secretly hoped she would, he would be able to resist her.

"Okay. Yeah. That makes sense." Clarke agreed.

"Right then. I'd better go then, you're working." Bellamy indicated to her outfit and she looked down too, mostly because she was too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

"I am. I'll see you later? I'm hanging out with Octavia at this bar, are you coming out? We can say it's to celebrate you leaving the Ark?" Clarke suggested. Bellamy considered it, and figured it would hurt Clarke more if he said no.

"I'd love to. I've got to go see Octavia later to...explain something to her so I'll get the details off her. See you later." And he rushed off before Abby saw him.

"And then the bridge completely collapsed!" Lincoln laughed and everybody joined in. They'd been out for a couple hours now, and Bellamy was taking full advantage of being out of the hospital. He'd had a few drinks and was dancing around in his seat the best he could with his ribs.

"Get up and dance with me!" Bellamy almost yelled in Clarke's ear.

"No way Bellamy." She pushed him away from her ear.

"What, the princess too good to dance?" He teased and she raised her eyebrows at the silly boy. He got up the second the song changed and pulled Clarke up with him. She lazily swayed from side to side next to him while Bellamy went a little nuts with his arms. He was completely out of time and Octavia and Lincoln were in a uncontrollable fit of giggles at him. Clarke couldn't help but laugh too. She knew he would be hurting in the morning, but she didn't think she could stop him dancing.

"Let's do whatever the hell we want!" Bellamy cheered to himself and Raven chuckled, sipping at her drink.

"Sounds good." She muttered, and then the last person she wanted to see walked through the door. Yesterday she'd filed a request to move to work on a different project, with a different engineer. She'd not seen Wick for longer than 5 minutes since they'd been on a date.

"Raven." He said quietly with a cold tone. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Make it quick." She sighed, leaving her little gang to themselves. "What do you want Wick?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe an explanation?" Wick asked. "We had a good night, you said so yourself. You've been avoiding me, and now I get a call saying you wanna move to a different project? Care to explain?"

"What can I say Wick? I just don't think it's a good idea working together." She admitted, shifting around on her feet a little.

"So do you still want to see me outside of work?"

"I'm sorry." That was enough to explain, without having to say no.

"I thought you liked me." Wick said, clearly gutted and Raven felt bad. But she told herself it was for the best.

"I do Wick, but it's not that simple."

"Then tell me."

Raven couldn't tell him. It just wasn't something she could share with him. "I can't.I like you, but it's not a good idea. It wouldn't work out with us."

"Why not?"

"Because it never does!" Raven blurted out then cursed herself.

"Oh." Wick's eyes flickered between her eyes and took a couple quick glances at her lips he'd love to kiss. "No I see. People can't leave if you push them away first, right? How's that working out for you so far? Let me know sometime." he said bitterly then turned away and walked out of the bar.

Raven balled up her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out that awful conversation. She walked to the table and collected her things, saying she had to leave because of an early night and excused herself to Lincoln and Octavia. Bellamy and Clarke were too busy dancing to notice and she didn't want to interrupt them.

Clarke waved her arms around like Bellamy was going a couple times before getting tired of it quickly. Bellamy was still grinning like a maniac at Clarke, probably due to the amount of alcohol he'd had.

"You look so beautiful when you laugh!" Bellamy told her, and she hid her embarrassed face and thanked him. It was a lovely thing to say.

"I think I should get you home now Bellamy." Clarke said and Bellamy reluctantly agreed. Lincoln and Octavia shared their cab and when it was Bellamy's stop, Clarke got out with him. Her apartment was surprisingly only a few blocks away from his.

She helped him upstairs and he was smiling and telling her about this friend Atom he had who was apparently a really funny guy, although Clarke couldn't really see it herself. Maybe it was the way Bellamy was telling the story.

He lived on the 4th floor of an apartment block and Clarke walked him to his door.

"Thanks Clarke. I think I got a little carried away tonight." Bellamy admitted.

"I think so. You'll be sore in the morning." She informed him, but doubted he'd remember.

"I want to see you with your hair down." Bellamy blurted out and Clarke was surprised at the request. He stroked the hair that was pinned back in a bun and got ever so close to Clarke. Too close to be safe but he wasn't thinking about Abby at that moment.

"Okay fine, but then you got inside and get some sleep, okay?" She asked and Bellamy nodded. Clarke removed the tie from her hair, letting her golden locks fall onto her shoulders in one big sweep. Bellamy grinned. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Scrap that, she was stunning. She was as radiant as the sun.

Bellamy brushed her hair off her shoulders so it fell behind her onto her back and he ducked down slowly, planting a very delicate kiss on her collar bone, and then on the side of her neck.

"Bellamy..." Clarke whispered, even though she'd meant it to come out in a warning tone. He was too drunk to be thinking straight right now. Bellamy entwined his fingers in her hair and kissed her properly. She tasted like joy. Clarke couldn't resist and pulled him in closer to her, feeling him pressing her against the wall behind as they kissed passionately. 

Every single warning bell went off in her head, she couldn't do this. But that didn't stop her wanting to. She had to decide.


	19. Chapter 19

Bellamy moved slightly away from Clarke with a quick kiss and unlocked his door. He took hold of her hand and tried to pull her inside but she resisted.

"I shouldn't Bellamy." She said, cursing herself for being sensible.

"I know you shouldn't, but I want you to." He tried pulling gently again, and Clarke was very interested in his apartment, but told herself not to look because then she'd be too nosy not to go inside.

"We've been drinking, you especially." She reasoned. Bellamy laughed a little, but even in his relaxed state realized she was right.

"Okay Princess. To be continued?" He said flirtatiously, and she squeezed the hand he still hadn't let go of.

"Yes. To be continued." She agreed, then headed off before she could change her mind, looking back only briefly to check he'd actually gotten inside the apartment. He'd already shut the door, so he didn't see her.

The walk back to her apartment was a refreshing one, filled with thoughts about what Bellamy and her could be doing right now, but a sense of pride that she'd walked away because it wasn't right to do anything when they'd been drinking. One thought did stay firmly in her mind the entire way home though.

Bellamy liked her. He must do, otherwise why would he have wanted her to come in? Hell, why would he have kissed her a second time? He must like her, and that was the best feeling in the world.

Raven seemed to be already asleep by the time she got home and crept in. It was quite late, and the last thing she needed bringing her down right now was a bunch of questions about what happened. Clarke knew how much she over-thought things, and the second she started to sober up she'd probably over think this too. Still with the feel of Bellamy still making her lips tingle, she doubted she could turn this into a bad thing.

********************************************

"How bad was it really?" Bellamy asked, a hangover from hell meaning he was holding his mobile away from his ear, even thought Lincoln wasn't too loud. Lincoln didn't want Octavia to overhear their conversation, they'd spent too long keeping this a secret.

"Not too bad. Dancing could use a tune up, but conversation wise you were hilarious."

"I don't remember telling any funny stories." Bellamy said, and Lincoln chuckled to himself.

"You didn't, you just talked and it was funny. You said some very weird stuff." Bellamy placed his head face-down on his bed.

"Oh god.." He mumbled into it.

"I believe Clarke found it charming, relax. So, how long before we get this project up and running again? I know you hurt yourself last time an-"

Bellamy interrupted his apology. "I know you're sorry, but it was my fault. I was careless. It won't happen again. I'm happy to start on some easier stuff as soon as you have it for me."

"Thank you Bellamy. You don't know how much this means to me." Lincoln raised his voice in relief Bellamy was helping again, then remembered Octavia was in the next room and lowered it again. Foolish mistake.

"Happy to do it. Listen man, I kept it from the hospital, but I was wondering if I could show Clarke what we're up to? She wouldn't breathe a word of it to O, and I feel bad keeping it from her."

"Of course you can, just make sure she keeps quiet. Under no circumstances can Octavia find out." Lincoln thought about Bellamy had asked. "So, Clarke, huh? Are things getting serious with you two then?"

Bellamy grimaced at the question. "I..it's complicated." He explained to Lincoln quickly what Abby had said because he needed a opinion.

"That's an awful thing to do to your daughter, but I think you know what you should do." Bellamy did, but he wanted to ignore it.

"I know I should stay away, but I don't want to. Clarke's a big girl, she should be able to make her own decisions in life." Bellamy argued, mostly with himself.

"Yes, but this is your choice. Perhaps look at it a different way." Lincoln paused for a moment. "Think of it as an excuse to keep Clarke as your friend. You don't ruin anything then."

"She probably doesn't even like me." Bellamy told him. "Partially after last night."

"What happened last night?" Lincoln asked and Bellamy tried to remember.

"The last thing I remember is dancing with her. She must think I'm an idiot." That was the last thing she needed to see him as, he thought. She probably already thought he was silly enough.

"Most likely. I saw your dancing." Lincoln laughed quietly.

"I'll call her. I'll see you later Lincoln." Lincoln said goodbye and Bellamy typed in Clarke's name. He waited, and waited, but got no reply. He debated leaving a message and decided to go for it to save on embarrassment.

"Hey Clarke, it's Bellamy. I just wanted to say, I am so sorry about last night. I was drunk, and foolish and wasn't thinking right. I don't know what came over me. I regret all of it, and it won't happen again, I promise. So, yeah, I'm really sorry. I'll call you later to organize showing you that thing I said I would? Okay, right, bye."

And then he hung up. He smiled a small smile to himself, glad to have just erased whatever stupid things he did last night, and hoped Clarke would forgive him.

Clarke had just finished her shift by checking on the recovering Charlotte, happy to see her with her seemingly new best friend, Murphy. Charlotte had talked none stop about his visit yesterday, and was just as glad to have him come over today. Clarke thought Murphy seemed just as happy to be here too.

Charlotte was the first person to treat him like a person since he got out of jail, and he liked her company, even if she was just a kid.

Clarke grinned all the way to the staff room and changing out of her scrubs. She didn't like to walk home in them because they were thin so they were cold, but the bright blue brought attention to herself.

Her phone was flashing with a couple notifications, the most exciting of which was a message from Bellamy. She clicked play and listened intently, and instantly her grin dropped.

He wasn't thinking straight. It wouldn't happen again. And he was sorry.

He regretted it. And now Clarke did too.


	20. Chapter 20

Clarke watched as a random guy on the television went off to the airport in need of the woman he'd loved for 5 years who was leaving for Cairo or Capri or something. Or maybe it was Columbia, truthfully Clarke hadn't been paying much attention. She hated slow burn romances.

She threw the remote onto the couch after switching the movie off and slumped back in her seat. As tiring as the hospital was, at least it always kept her busy.

Now she was bored. Raven was at work, Octavia too. God know where Bellamy was. She didn't care. Okay she cared a little, but not enough to call him back. She would eventually, but right now she was still a little bitter. It was getting a little annoying at be kept being led on then pushed away. Either he wanted her or he didn't.

If the flirting didn't mean anything, then how they were around each other had to. The way he was always giving her little looks and touching her whenever he could. Clarke reasoned they'd almost kissed several times, so it was hardly a one time mistake.

Bellamy Blake was a very confusing man. He seemed to do whatever the hell he wanted, and she liked that to an extent.

She found herself comparing him to Finn, the only serious boyfriend she'd ever had, completely on accident.

Finn had always been very spontaneous, but the 'spontaneous' act was always planned she'd found out. He'd change his mind about dinner plans and they'd go to some random, fun place neither of them had ever been. Turned he was avoiding the places he used to go with Raven. Clarke had noticed the places Raven went all the time were the places Finn never went.

She supposed that was because he'd always planned to get back with Raven at the end of it all. Clarke had been nothing more to him than a way of passing the time for 6 months.

Even though Raven and her hardly ever talked about him, Clarke had worked up the courage to ask why Finn had come over to the apartment looking for Raven even if he knew she was leaving for long. Raven had told her that she'd been too upset to say a final goodbye to him, so she told him she was leaving a day later than she actually was.

Clarke wished she hadn't. Then Finn never would have come over and he wouldn't have broken her heart.

Her buzzer went off, stopping her thoughts in their tracks. She quickly got up to find out who it was, happy to have a distraction. Too much thinking was not helping her situation.

"Hello?" She said pressing the button.  
"Why hello Princess, your knight in crappy armor is here to rescue you from a day off." Bellamy joked on the other end, and even though she was still angry she laughed a little.

"What about shining armor?"

"Nay fair maiden! I have trekked through swamps, swam lakes with monsters in them, not to mention the dragon that burnt me. So my armor is crappy as evidence of my quest." He stopped with the little posh accent he'd been playing around around with. "Besides my sneakers are far too terrible for you to believe I'm a knight in shining armor."

"I don't need rescuing, knight. Return to your castle." Clarke played along and she could tell he was living this.

"Come on Princess, I'm trying to make up for my awful behavior last night." He raised his voice over the speaker. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your most likely long hair! Or you know, just let me in." Clarke froze. That wording... It couldn't be.

"Just for the record, how much do you remember from last night?" She asked.

"Too much. But nothing past the dancing at the bar. Apparently I have you to thank for getting me home, so thank you." It was all Clarke could do to stop herself from dancing. He didn't remember the kiss! He remembered nothing, he didn't regret anything! She didn't dance, but she grinned like crazy.

"So when you said you regret what you did last night, you meant... dancing? And drinking?"

"Yes..." Bellamy sounded confused, but Clarke wasn't sure whether it was because of her sudden happiness or the subject.

"Right, I'm letting you up." She pressed the button and then realized what she must look like. Quickly, she grabbed a hair tie from side and tied her hair back. Worked pretty well last night, and she didn't see the harm considering he didn't remember. She threw a couple sneakers to the side and tried to calm herself down a little. It wasn't really attractive to have a massive, goofy grin on her face so she tried to stop herself.

Little did she know on the other side of the door Bellamy was trying to do the same thing. She'd let him up despite this horrid behavior the previous night. This was a victory. He shifted the picnic basket he was holding to behind his back and quietly knocked on her door, silently remembering to thank Octavia for providing him with the address. Bellamy couldn't stop himself from grinning when she opened the door.

"Clarke...Hi." He stumbled over his words a little, suddenly nervous as hell to ask her out. He pulled out the picnic basket, proud of the smile he was putting on her face. Stunning. "I believe I promised to show you something."

"You want to show me now?" Clarke's curiosity was getting too much now, and it was almost as tempting to find out why Bellamy was put in hospital as to spend the day with Bellamy and his rather splendid looking picnic basket.

"No dancing?" Clarke teased and was delighted to see some little pickening in his cheeks.

"I promise." Bellamy nodded.

"Okay then Prince Charming." Clarke grabbed her coat. "Take me away."


	21. Chapter 21

"Where are you taking me?" Clarke asked, following Bellamy through another 'shortcut' as he called it. They were on the outskirts of the city now, and Bellamy was taking them in the direction of the more rural area in Ton DC. Clarke had hardly ever been out here before.

"You'll see, just be patient." They began cutting through a woody area.

"I thought being the patient was your job." Clarke laughed at her own joke and Bellamy sighed at the sheer terribleness but still smiled.

"The Princess makes puns. God help us." Bellamy said while helping Clarke over a fallen tree.

"So how much further to we have to go?" Clarke complained, but more to bother Bellamy than anything else. She was liking the walk.

"Not too much longer, stop whining." Clarke picked up a handful of loose dirt from the ground.

"Heads up!" She yelled and threw it over him so it got all in his hair. He shook his head in a dog-like fashion and ran his fingers threw it to push it all back.

"Wait!" Clarke yelled. "Don't move!" He remained dead still. It was strange. With all his hair out of his face, he looked so different she hardly recognized him. His chin looked sharper but it meant she could really see his face.

"You've got so many freckles!" Clarke burst out so Bellamy realized why'd she'd made him stop moving.

"You're dead." He said playfully and rushed towards her. She darted away as quickly as she could.

"Bell, no!" She called but he continued to chase her round the greenery. She backed herself up into a tree and accepted what would most likely be a face full of dirt. Instead, Bellamy scooped her up despite her protests, and carried her and the picnic basket to near the stream.

"No! No, stop, Bell, please!" Clarke yelled and tried to wiggle her way out of his grip. "Please, no!" He tipped her up so her hair was almost dangling in the water, smiling at the look on her face. She was trying so desperately to look upset and not laugh.

"No more complaining." He said lightly, pulling her up the right way but continuing to carry her. One reason was because she was warm and felt nice in his arms. Having her close was a pleasure. The second reason was he liked the fact he could lift her so easily, it made him feel a little strong.

Clarke was complaining either. This was a great method of transport, and she was getting tired so what the hell. She took full advantage and put her arms around him, getting a very similar feeling that she did last night.

"You called me Bell." He pointed out suddenly.

"Oh yeah, I guess I did. Sorry, Octavia calls you it, so I just hear it." She explained, hoping she hadn't intervened on some family-only thing.

"No, I like it. Fell free. After all, I get to call you Princess." And with that the conversation dropped, both just happy being near each other and taking in the surroundings.

"Close your eyes." Bellamy said and Clarke did as she was told, because weirdly enough she did like surprises. She wished this was a good one. He walked with her a little more and Clarke could see behind her eyelids it was getting darker. She wondered where she was.

"You can open them now." He almost whispered, placing her very gently back on her feet. Clarke opened her eyes, shocked speechless by what she saw.

They were standing in a massive barn. Wooden pillars and construction materials surrounded them, wheelbarrows and reddish-brownish bricks were piled up in certain areas. Wooden planks had been thrown everywhere, and at the far end, Clarke could see a collapsed bit of brick and wood.

"You're...constructing?" Clarke couldn't manage to get out another word as she carried on looking around.

"Yeah. Lincoln and I are working on this together." He looked around fondly. "When we were kids, Octavia and I used to live in this tiny little flat with only one bedroom. She hated it. It was in the middle of the city with no garden, no parks nearby and no views." He ran his fingers over a section of bricks.

"So, I used to tell her to imagine her dream house. Somewhere far away, somewhere big. Somewhere she could call a home." He took Clarke in the direction of a table. He reached into his basket and picked out maybe two dozen children's drawings, all of them a house, different in some ways, but more or less the same.

"These are hers?" Clarke asked, but her question was answered when she saw a beautiful Bellamy and Octavia staring up at her drawn into the biggest picture.

"She used to love the house. She'd talk about it all the time. We used to build blanket forts and pretend we were there, and she'd go on and on about some new room she was adding. Like one on the top floor for ponies." He chuckled lightly while Clarke looked through the pictures.

"I always used to promise her she'd have it one day. And I always wanted to keep that promise, as silly as it was, that's why I kept the drawings. They meant a lot to the two of us. A way of forgetting where we actually were at the time." Bellamy smiled and shook his head.

"Lincoln's going to ask Octavia to marry him." Clarke's eyes shot wide open and a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Bellamy! That's so fantastic! I'm so happy for her!" She jumped a little on the balls of her feet, excitement and joy for one of her best friends bubbling up inside her.

"I know, it's great. I know I didn't like the guy, but he's actually turned out to be okay. He loves my sister, and anyone can see how much she adores him, so I'm happy for them both. Anyway, Lincoln is quite traditional. He came to me a few months ago, and asked for my blessing. Which I gave." Bellamy quickly added when Clarke gave him a look.

"Good."

"But he wanted to do something for her. Something he knew would make sure she knew it was real. And he said she'd mentioned this house a few times. I showed him the pictures and we started to plan. We found the barn in a state, figured it was so massive we could easily use it for the foundations of the house. We're adding to it, making it work. And trying to stick with Octavia's designs as best as we can." Clarke couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was easily the most thoughtful and amazing thing anyone had ever done.

"Octavia is so lucky to have not just one, but two people who love her as much as they do." Bellamy looked prouder than he'd ever looked before. That was the nicest compliment he'd ever received.

"When I was in hospital it's because we'd already started to fix up the barn... but we hadn't quite gotten planning permission yet. It was so likely, and everything had been filed and reported on. Lincoln and I saw no reason why we couldn't get started. I was foolish, I knocked a pillar down and a few bricks and wood from the second level had collapsed on me. I'd been crushed. Lincoln rushed me to the hospital, but I couldn't tell anybody and risk the barn being taken away before we'd even started. So that's why I couldn't say anything. Now you know." Bellamy finished and had left Clarke, once again, speechless.

"Do you like it?" Bellamy asked and Clarke looked around at him. He'd never looked so vulnerable to Clarke, not even when he'd been in surgery, or bashed and battered lying in a hospital bed. This mattered more to him than almost anything. And she could see why.

"Bellamy, it's beautiful. It's peaceful, and so lovely. And the thought behind it is just... I don't know what I could say to summarize it. Words don't describe this place." Bellamy reached out and took Clarke's hand gently, bringing her close and so they were almost kissing again.

"Thank you." He whispered and kissed her so lightly on her lips she wasn't sure he'd done it at all. He reopened his eyes and stared into Clarke's. Although Bellamy felt it was a very unromantic thought, for a nice romantic moment, his exact thought was 'screw it' as he kissed her probably. Her hands reached up and circled his neck, drawing him in closer and despite the area's beauty, only focusing on beauty in front of her. In that moment, Bellamy was the only thing that mattered.


	22. Chapter 22

When Clarke had finally moved away from Bellamy, it wasn't like the last couple times. There was no interruption, no sudden stopping, and it left both of them feeling on top of the world.

"So what did you bring?" Clarke asked, indicating at his picnic basket. He lead her outside the barn so they could have the picnic in the sunshine and she took in her surroundings again. Octavia really would love it here.

"I'm not much of a cook, I have to warn you." He reached down and pulled out a blanket from the basket and laid it out for them to sit on. Clarke sat herself down and Bellamy couldn't resist reaching over and planting a quick, soft kiss on her lips.

"I've got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Bellamy said, expecting Clarke to laugh at his poor cooking skills. He never needed to cook for anybody but Octavia before, and she was almost always happy with a quick sandwich, or some cereal.

"Sounds good."

"And...chess." Bellamy was nervous to admit he'd brought the game with him. It was such a strange thing, but he felt he needed to win in order to even remotely deserve Clarke or something. However, he was delighted at her reaction.

"Sounds great."

So they soaked in the afternoon sun sitting outside the barn, eating their sandwiches and playing the most pointless, yet the most important game of chess they'd played so far. Clarke knew she would let Bellamy win, she wanted him to, but she didn't want to make it too easy for him. He thought carefully about his moves and tried very hard.

Clarke had to admit she might not have beat him even if she was playing to win. She liked he fact that when Bellamy wanted something, he worked for it. She drew the game out until she couldn't anymore and then she heard the best words she could have heard at that moment.

"Check mate, Princess." He said, triumphantly. He was grinning with pride and at the fact he now had a date with Clarke. Something they would officially call a date.

"Good game Bellamy, you beat me fair and square. You'll have to take me out now I guess." She pretended to be off-hand about it, despite the fact she thought she could jump for joy. Bellamy saw right through her.

"You guess?" He said in a hushed down, slowly crawling towards her so their faces were inches apart.

"I guess." She repeated, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her excited right now. He'd already gotten to beat her at a game she prided herself in never losing. Instead of arguing with her, Bellamy kissed her again. He was so full of happiness because he could kiss her.

"Bellamy." Clarke interrupted them and moved her head away because she felt very guilty. "I have something to admit."

Bellamy braced himself for the worse case scenario. She was dating somebody else. She was married. She didn't like him. She was allergic to peanut butter and he'd killed her. Luckily, she didn't say anything like that.

"We actually kissed last night. I know you don't remember, but last night when I was taking you home, you kissed me." Bellamy looked disappointed somehow. "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just, when I kiss somebody as beautiful as you, I wish I'd remember it." Clarke smiled as his softness and Bellamy sat up next to her, leaving the chess board and basket where it was.

They both laid back on the blanket, staring up at the sky in a peaceful bliss. Clarke could finally see the appeal of away from the city. This is wonderful.

It was sadly interrupted by her phone buzzing from her tossed aside jacket. She got up to reach it out and saw she already had 4 missed calls. Crap.

"Hello?" She said, looking at Bellamy who was watching her intently.

"Clarke! Oh thank goodness, I need your help! I did something really bad last night." Raven spoke frantically down the phone.

"Whoa, calm down. What's wrong, what did you do?"

"Can you come home please?" Clarke was torn. She needed to go home to her friend, but the idea of more time with Bellamy was almost tempting enough to come up with an excuse. Almost.

"I'll be home as fast as I can." She said and Bellamy quickly got into action getting everything packed away.

"Thank you so much Clarke." Raven and her said her goodbye's and they hung up.

"I'm really sorry." Clarke said to Bellamy, but he didn't look upset or annoyed.

"That's okay. I hope she's okay." Bellamy said and they started to head back.

"Me too. She said she did something really bad. I wonder what she means."

****************************************************

Raven had just left her friends at the bar after being confronted by Wick. She was angrily cursing him under her breath as she walked out to go to her apartment. Unfortunately for her that meant she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going. When she crashed into another person, she was thrown backwards. Luckily for her, Wick managed to grab hold of her arm so she didn't fall back.

She snacked her arm back from him. "What are you doing here?" She said to him furiously. He had the cheek to smirk.

"Huh, well, I live here for a start." Wick pointed at the apartment complex standing next to them. "And I was coming to apologize for the things I said." he added quickly.

"I don't believe you."

"I'm sorry Reyes. They were thoughtless and insensitive, and I didn't mean to say them. I just jumped the gun because I thought I knew you well and thought I had you all figured out. But it was wrong and I'm sorry." He seemed genuine.

"Good." Raven said bluntly and grabbed hold of his hand, gently starting to pull him towards his apartment building.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Wick asked, tempted to pull away but stopped himself.

"You said you lived here." Raven pointed out. "I don't want to push you away Wick."

"I think you can call me Kyle." She walked back towards him and kissed him quickly. Wick was too shocked to respond.

"You want to?" Raven asked, biting her lip and nodding slightly towards the building. She was nervous as hell but wouldn't back down now. Wick smiled at her and pushed a loose bit of hair back behind her ear.

"If you want to do this, I'm in." Wick said quietly which was all she needed to hear. She wanted him now. Everything else would have to wait until morning.


	23. Chapter 23

Raven was pacing up and down the apartment when Clarke came back.

"Clarke!" She quickly pulled Clarke into the apartment, not seeing Bellamy standing behind her.

"Hey Raven, whats wrong?"

"I messed up and." She spotted Bellamy behind. "Oh! Were you guys...?" Raven glanced at Clarkes face. Her face was a little pink, her lips were a little redder than usual and her still back hair was messier than Clarke would let it get on a normal day.

"No. No, Bellamy was just showing me something for Octavia." Clarke faced Bellamy and gave him a small smile.

"So, about our bet?" Clarke asked as Bellamy backed out through the door. Bellamy didn't want to say anything in front of Raven so he made a phone gesture with his hand and wiggled it a bit. He waved to the two girls and left.

Clarke turned back to Raven who looked a bit confused. "I'm so sorry Clarke, I didn't want to interrupt. I thought you'd be out doing chores, or with Octavia." Raven felt terrible. She hoped she hadn't interrupted anything.

"It's fine. Now what did you do last night that was so bad?" Raven explained what Kyle had said to her, how she'd stormed out and then what had happened after she bumped into him outside. Clarke listened well and tried go figure out what Raven had done that was so bad.

"And? So you guys had sex, people do it all the time Raven. It's not that bad." Clarke pointed out and Raven groaned into her hands.

"It's not that. I was pretty tipsy last night.."

"So you regret it? I'm sure Wick, or Kyle, will understand." Clarke felt bad for the guy, but Raven didn't feel like it was right then that was her right.

"I don't regret it. I regret what I did before hand." Raven took out her mobile. "I'm such an idiot. Before I left the bar, I called somebody." Raven grimaced and held out the phone.

"You know what spacewalker, you ruined me. I'm here with Clarke, you know Clarke right?" Phone Raven laughed at her own sarcasm. "And we're great friends, like well done, good choice. And Wick is awesome. Like, I really liked him. But noooo. I couldn't do anything, because of you. So screw you. Thanks a bunch." The phone crackled a little and went dead. Raven looked like she might cry.

"It's not too bad. I mean, he might not even... Spacewalker?" The name was foreign to her.

"He didn't tell you about the time he went in zero G for a party and vomited so much they had to stop the entire thing? So we all started to call him spacewalker. I'd forgotten it to be honest." Raven smirked at the memory.

"How long had you known him for Raven?"

"My whole life. The boy across the street. He was my best friend." Clarke reached out and told hold of Ravens hand because she couldn't think of any words to comfort her.

"Listen, I'm sure Finn will know you're drunk and just delete the message. Or he'll have a new phone." Clarke tried to be reassuring.

"Hey, with you did Finn spend a lot of time on his hair?" Raven asked, a little smile on her face.

"Yes! He had to get it just right, like he hadn't even touched it at all." They had a bit of a giggle which was nice for them.

"I really like Wick, Clarke. But I just freaked and left this morning. I just needed to check what I said before I carried on anything with Wick."

"Why don't you go see him? Explain that to him." Clarke suggested what seemed to be the best idea but Raven wasn't so keen.

"It might not be the best thing to explain Finn to him. Too complicated."

"Okay. Well then just go and say that you had an emergency and had to leave, but you'd love to see him again? Just make up a little white lie?" Raven seemed much happier with that idea.

"That's what I'm gonna do. Okay. Yeah, that sounds great. I'm gonna go now." She got up and grabbed her jacket. "Thanks Clarke, and I am so sorry for disrupting you and Bellamy. Call him! Bye!" She dashed off and left Clarke smiling on the couch. It was so great to see her friend happy.

Taking Ravens advice seemed like a good idea so she pulled out her phone as dialed his number. They scheduled a date for later that evening and Clarke could hardly wait.

************************************************************

Raven cursed herself again and again for her foolish calling Finn the previous night as she pressed the buzzer to Wicks apartment. He let her straight up, which seemed like a good sign she told herself. She ignored the fact that he didn't ask who she was.

She braced herself for an inevitably annoyed or angry Kyle as she knocked on the door, but surprisingly she was greeted with a smile.

"Hey wrench monkey, what you doing over here?" Raven wasn't sure how to react to Wick's chirpiness.

"I, um, just wanted to say I was sorry for leaving so early this morning." He smiled at her in a way that Raven had never seen before. It was a small smile, like he was both happy with her but it also looked like he was proud of her in a weird way. She liked it. He gestured for her to come in.

"That's okay. I guessed you had a reason and weren't just skipping town on me." He came in closer to her which gave Raven to appreciate him up close and personal sober this time. It certainly was a lot nicer than her hungover brain gave him credit for. She could see outlines of muscles under his thin shirt and his face was something else.

"No, I had a bit of a freak out." A concerned look washed over his face.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" He asked quickly. Raven thought about lying, making it easier for herself and just taking Clarke's advice. It has seemed like such a sensible idea beforehand.

"Look, I had an boyfriend who really did a number on me and it just means I'm a little closed off. I'm getting over it, but it's still a bit sore. But I want this. I want us." She admitted and watched Wicks expression change to a similar one of a child's on Christmas morning and she couldn't resist smiling back.

"Reyes, that's what I want to. And we've all got scars and we've all got issues, it's not a big deal. And I want to say that I am sorry about last night. I feel like you were drunk and I took advantage, so-" Raven stopped him talking by kissing him quickly to let him know it was okay.

"I was the one that wanted you last night. I'm glad tipsy me had the courage that sober me didn't."

"Okay. I will repeat what I said to you last night though. If you wanna do this, I'm in. But I'm not gonna play games. I don't like that." He looked deadly serious.

"Deal." Raven agreed and he lifted her off her feet so easily because of her size and twirled her until she was resting on his hips. He thought it was so sweet how short she was. He kissed the tip of her nose and then on the lips while she wrapped her arms around him.

"Shoot, I've gotta go pick an idea at work." Wick said breaking apart from Raven and placing her down on the ground. "Can I see you later for date number 1.5?"

"1.5?" She questioned, excited at the idea of another date.

"Well, I figure last night was a date but I was also rude to you, so it's only half a date. Tonight though, the date is going to be so good it will bring it up to 3 dates. It's gonna be a date and a half. Let me walk you down to the lobby." He opened the door and led her down the stairs despite the fact he only lived on the first floor. She didn't mind then.

"Okay well, good luck with your meeting. Good thing about being a mechanic, no meetings." She pointed out, teasing Wick as she walked out on the street.

"Damn mechanics!" He called at after her as she crossed the road, looking back at Wick.

"Damn engineers!" She called back, focusing on just how happy Wick looked right now, and just how great it was to see. No words could describe how happy she was to be doing this.

She never even saw the car before it hit her.


	24. Chapter 24

Clarke looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she went to wait for Bellamy to arrive. He promised her he was taking her to a nice restaurant for a real date and Clarke could hardly believe it.

Bellamy was a cute, funny, intelligent, amazing guy who she was falling in love with. And they'd not even been on a real date yet.

This did scare her a little because in her books it was quite fast but she'd never felt this before. Nobody had ever made her this happy before. And she wasn't about to let him go any time soon. She didn't want anything to screw this up.

Clarke had decided to wear her hair down so it flowed over her shoulders and rested on her pale blue sundress that had a v-neckline and stopped at her knees. She'd never worn it before because she'd only bought it a few weeks ago when she'd gone shopping with Octavia. Clarke has loved that day because it had been the first day that Raven and Octavia had met.

Raven hated shopping. She loathed it so much Clarke wasn't sure why she thought it was a good idea to invite her, but Octavia didn't shop like anybody else. She didn't buy anything except a nice t-shirt for Lincoln. But she tried on anything and everything she liked. That included cocktail dresses, high heels and half a dozen hats. She made Raven and Clarke 'compete' for who could find the ugliest outfit combination in the shop. They all had like 15 minutes to choose as much crap and they could and then tried it all on and compared.

Clarke thought the funniest part of the day had been when Raven suggested a 'walk-a-thon'. She'd spotted some huge high heels that didn't even look like it would be possible to walk in and dared the other two to try them on with her. Whoever walked the longest in their heels won and the other two had to buy them a coffee.

Clarke had collapsed straight away. She was used to wearing sensible shoes at the Ark and couldn't remember the last time she hadn't worn flats. Raven and Octavia had come close at reaching the other side of the shop before Octavia feel into a manikin and broke it's arm off. They didn't stop laughing about it until they'd left the shop.

Clarke smiled fondly at the memories of her now two best friends getting to know each other. They were such different people and it amazed her that they got on so well, but they just worked together.

The buzzer sounded and Clarke practically skipped to grab her handbag and ran to the buzzer.

"Be right down!" She said quickly.

"Actually, can I come up Princess? I have something for you." She could practically hear the smile behind his words. She buzzed him up and waited patiently. She opened the door the second she heard his knock. She was worried that his smile dropped the moment he saw he.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Clarke looked down at her dress, hoping she wouldn't see a huge stain or something.

"No..it's just." His smile returned. "You look so beautiful, I'm speechless." Bellamy couldn't believe how stunning she looked. Not that she didn't look it normally, but seeing her in such a lovely dress with the hair just made her radiant.

"I like your hair." He blurted out because he could't just stand there staring at her.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself." She commented. He was wearing jeans and a navy dress shirt that fit him nicely. He looked very handsome. Something she did notice was the bundle of lilies he was holding in his hands. They were perfect. He held them out to her.

"I remembered you saying you liked lilies even thought they were funeral flowers. You said it was a shame they weren't in the hospital more often, so I just thought...well..." He laughed out of nerves. He was now so worried it was a stupid idea but Clarke took them from his and kissed his cheek lightly. Strangely enough Bellamy thought it was as nice as their other kissed. Maybe nicer. Sweeter definitely.

She put them in the sink quickly and Bellamy glanced around her apartment. It was very tidy and coordinated. And extremely clean he noticed. He liked that. He held out his arm for her as she joined him at the door.

***************************

The restaurant Bellamy had chosen was lovely. It was quiet and small just on the outskirts of Tone DC. It was a little Italian restaurant that apparently he used to work at as a waiter when he was younger. His suggestion of the hot chocolate has gone down a treat with Clarke who had a real sweet-tooth. It tasted like somebody had just melted down her favorite chocolate and added a little milk. It was so thick and creamy. Clarke adored it.

They ordered their meals and settled down into their seats, pleased that it was warm and smelt heavenly.

"So Claire, tell me about yourself." Bellamy joked.

"Um, it's Clarke." She added, laughing at his silliness and playing along. She figured it would be good fun.

"Oh, gosh, I am sorry. Really, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a doctor actually." Clarke said and Bellamy pretended to look surprised. "Yeah I work at the Ark. It's a lovely place, nice people. Some patients are a pain but what can you do? So, Bellamy is it?" Bellamy nodded for her to continue. "What do you do for a living?"

"I am a mechanic at a local garage. But I've been off work for a while with his injury I got when I rode my motorcycle into burning pet hospital to save a litter of kittens." Bellamy was so pleased with himself for his joke and Clarke could tell.

"Wow!" She said sarcastically. "That's amazing, did you save them?"

"Oh God no, who cares, cats are the worst." Bellamy said in a dead-pan voice. He was so serious Clarke couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing so loud a couple people glanced over at her. She cleared her throat and tried to act normal.

"I'm just kidding, I love cats. So Clarke, what are your favorites? I feel like we skipped this whole basics bit. I know you like Disney and chess and hot patients who pester you for dates."

"That's true." Clarke agreed and then thought about his question. "My favorite color is green. My favorite band is called The Grounders. My favorite food is pasta so good job on the restaurant. Although rightly-won pudding cups are second best. My favorite place is the Ark. I just love it. My favorite book is 'May we meet again' By C.M. Lexa and my favorite animals are deers. That's about it."

"Wait, you like 'may we meet again'?" Bellamy was shocked. "That was my favorite kids book when I was a kid! I've never met anybody who ever liked it before. Or knew it for that matter. In peace, may we leave the shore..." Clarke smiled, remembering the line.

"In love you may find the next..." Bellamy took ahold of her hand and she tried not to read too much into it.

"Safe passage on your journeys..." Clarke could barely get the words out she was so flustered. She was focusing on the warmth of Bellamy's hand in hers.

"Until our final mission to the ground..."

"May we meet again." They finished in unison and then didn't say another word.

Both of them knew in that moment exactly what was happening. Bellamy knew he was in love with Clarke. Clarke knew she was in love with Bellamy. But neither of them thought the other felt the same.

"So, how do you know that book?" Clarke asked, not pulling her hand away but breaking the silence.

"I used to read it to Octavia. I actually stole it from a shop. I feel bad about that, but Octavia would't stop crying at bedtime because she hated the dark. I thought reading a book about space would help her. And it did. She loved the book." Bellamy was smiling fondly at the memory.

"Remember I told you how I wanted to be an astronaut at the hospital? That book was why. I used to tell O and me stories about living in space. How about you?"

"My dad used to read it to me. I used to love to read by myself, but it was the only book I'd let him read to me. I don't know why, I just loved it." The waited came over to them with their delicious looking food and the two broke their hands away reluctantly. They thanked the waiter who left quickly so they resumed their conversation.

"So tell me your favorites." Clarke prompted and Bellamy considered the same questions Clarke had answered.

"My favorite color is purple. I like this band called Radiation. Food wise I like good old burgers and fries. My favorite place is anywhere with Octavia. She's my animal? Probably...rabbits."

"Rabbits?" Clarke was a little surprised with this response.

"They're fluffy and cute. Plus at some point a wild rabbit bit this kid I hated at school and he had to go to the hospital and he cried, so it was a pretty good day." Bellamy smiled a sly smile because that kid was a dick. He didn't think he should mention to Clarke how much he loved their little fluffy tails. That just seemed weird, even to him.

The rest of the main meal went very nicely. The conversation flowed freely and they barely stopped smiling the entire time. Bellamy talked about his job and told her some funny and embarrassing stories about Octavia, while Clarke talked about some of her weirdest patients at the hospital. Bellamy didn't get grossed out easily but hearing some of the stuff Clarke had 'found' in people at some points (Too many children's toys in Bellamy's opinion) was so disgusting. But hilarious at the same time.

"You're are an utterly fascinating, extraordinary person Clarke Griffin." Bellamy pointed out and her face warmed in embarrassment.

"Thank you. You're awesome and funny and a real softie at heart Bellamy Blake." Bellamy smiled as they shared the cheesecake he'd recommended. Clarke was certainly enjoying it.

"Permission to hold your hand?" Bellamy stretched his out with the hand that didn't have a fork in it and Clarke took it happily.

"Permission granted." Bellamy tried to push out thoughts of how wrong what he was doing actually was. Now this looked like it was going to happen, Bellamy couldn't stop himself from panicking about what the consequences could be.

Clarke could lose her job. She'd said it herself that the Ark was her favorite place in the world. And her mother really seemed to hate him. He was also a bit older than her which hadn't been a bit deal before, but it still worried Bellamy what people might think. They were still quite young after all. He had to tell her about her mother, it wasn't fair to keep it to himself. It was her future.

"Listen Clarke, there's something I have to tell you." He began but Clarke's attention was drawn to her phone as it started going off. She checked it and a scared look washed over her face.

"It's the hospital." She muttered and picked up.

"Hello?" She managed to choke out and then her eyes started to tear up and Bellamy got frightened.

"Raven's what?"


	25. Chapter 25

"Where is she?" Clarke blurted out the second she reached reception at the hospital. "Raven. Raven Reyes, she got brought in today?" Bellamy came up behind her and tried to comfort her by rubbing her back slightly.

"Raven Reyes is in the operating room now. That young gentlemen over there brought her in." The receptionist Clarke had temporarily forgotten the name of pointed to somebody Clarke recognized. Wick.

"Wick!" Clarke rushed over to see him and for no reason other than pure happiness that he was there for Raven, threw her arms around him for a hug.

"What happened? Please tell me she's okay!" Wick looked like he'd been crying which made Clarke feel like she was going to vomit she was so afraid.

"She..she walked out into the road and wasn't paying attention. A car just came out of nowhere. They brought her in and..." Wick choked on his words and stammered a little. "She couldn't feel her legs. She's in surgery now. They wouldn't tell me any more as she's not family. Do you know any of their numbers, they don't have any on record." He rambled and Clarke tried to figure out what this all meant, but her brain was too fuzzy from the panic to figure anything out.

"We just need to keep calm." Bellamy said in a soothing tone. "She's going to be fine. She's in good hands."

"Yeah. The doctors are optimistic, they said she's got a good chance." Wick mentioned but it didn't stop him from worrying any less. If anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. This was all his fault.

"Wick, the doctors here are some of the best in America, she's going to be okay." Bellamy placed his hand on Clarke's shoulder and squeezed lightly to let her know he was there for her.

"Look she's going to be in surgery a while, you can't just wait around in the corridor." The receptionist called down to them and they all started to move away.

"I know someplace we can go." Clarke and Bellamy led Wick into the room they'd waited in while Charlotte was having her operation. Wick took a seat on one of the chairs but Bellamy said his ribs were hurting so he sat side by side with Clarke leaning against a beanbag.

Clarke asked Wick what had happened before the accident, and Wick explained vaguely what had happened between the two of them and Clarke had expressed her joy in the situation the best she could with everything else that had happened.

Clarke tried to cheer Wick up a little by telling him stories about Raven and she even told him how much Raven liked him, and about what Raven had said to Clarke in regards to him which did cheer him up slightly. It was nice knowing she liked him maybe as much as he liked her.

After a couple of hours, just gone midnight, Clarke went outside to get any information she could about Raven. She spoke to a doctor who told her Raven looked like she had damage to the spine so they were operating to try and fix it as soon as possible.

At just past 3am, Wick was struggling to say awake and so was pacing back and forth between the sides of the room. They'd starting talking about more general stuff to try to keep their minds off of Raven but it wasn't helping. Bellamy had enjoyed talking to Wick about college and was very interested in his job as they were quite interlocked. Clarke left them comparing what wrenches were better to use and popped out to go to the bathroom.

Coming out of it, she saw the surgeons coming out of the theater and she felt sick with fear. This was it.

"She's doing fine Clarke." Her friend assured her and Clarke let out her breath and a tear of relief, not caring that she was in her place of work. "Everything went according to plan but we won't know how bad the damage is to her spine until she wakes up and based on the amount of meds they gave her, that won't be happening tonight." Clarke thanked her for the information and ran off to tell Wick and Bellamy.

Wick smiled and then got a little upset, probably because of how stressful the day had been. He soon started asking how long it would be before he got to see her, and Clarke told him she'd be awake in the morning probably.

Bellamy hugged Clarke as she came to sit with him but she didn't let him go. Instead she just lay there with her head on his chest, trying to process her relief that her best friend was going to be okay. Eventually, Clarke's eyelids started to feel too heavy and she fell asleep in Bellamy's arms.

Bellamy looked over at Wick who was already snoozing on the table using his jacket as a pillow as he gently snored. Oddly enough, Bellamy thought he sounded like a cat sleeping.

Bellamy hooked a blanket with his leg and managed to pull it over Clarke without disturbing her too much. The last thing he wanted on a day like this was to disturb her well deserved slumber. He kissed the top of her head and couldn't resist saying what he didn't dare bring himself to say when she was conscious, so he whispered it while she slept, just as he was about to fall asleep with her in his arms.

"I love you Clarke Griffin."


	26. Chapter 26

Bellamy woke to the unfamiliar sensation of hair resting in his hand and sprawled over his chest. Clarke. She was cuddled up on him, head resting just under his chin, one hand on the back of his neck and the other resting under his t-shirt on the bare skin on the side of his stomach. She was so toasty, it was lovely.

Instead of moving away, Bellamy decided the most logical thing to do would to be to enjoy this while it lasted, so he nuzzled the bottom of his lip very slighty on her hair and tried to fall back to sleep. Unfortunately he could feel her stirring on him, so Bellamy figured as nice as it was he should probably end it.

He kissed the top of her head as she started to open her eyes and stroked her hand lightly.

"Morning Princess." He said quietly. His voice was a little deeper than usual as his throat was dry so he hoped he didn't sound funny. If he did Clarke didn't seem to mind. She rolled over onto her stomach so she was facing him.

"Morning Bell." She smiled sleepily and Bellamy thought she looked so beautiful. He lent in to give her a morning kiss, assuming that would confirm if they were doing 'them' and if so, Bellamy would have to talk about her mother. That was gonna be a bad conversation.

Sadly Bellamy never got the chance because they both heard a cough before they got close. They both snapped their heads round to see a very amused and tired looking Wick.

"Morning Princess." He smiled smugly at Clarke. "Morning Bell." He said to Bellamy and then burst out laughing. The both of them moved away from each other quickly.

"Calm down, I think you guys are cute." Wick said, standing up and gesturing towards the door. "They say she's awake, come on." And Clarke almost ran out the door, leaving poor Bellamy to get up as best he could. Clarke may be small but she didn't do a lot of good leaning on healing ribs.

They headed upstairs and a nurse told them where they could find her. Unfortunately she didn't know anything about her condition. Clarke knew the surgery they did, and what it was for, but she hadn't had the guts to admit it to the boys. She hoped to God she was wrong.

*****************************************

In the building adjacent to the hospital, a very tired Murphy was wheeling a highly whiny child away from her nice warm bed. This was a 4th visit to Charlotte now, and the second time meeting her parents. He felt like a disapproved boyfriend, and it wasn't a good feeling. However, he liked little Charlotte and when she'd asked him to be his escort to her first group therapy session he couldn't say no.

These things were hell, Murphy thought. Sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers, talking about your feelings? No thanks. And Charlotte felt more or less the exact same as him, but her parents were insistent.

It was because of this that it was Murphy who got to sit in with her to make sure she was okay and not her parents, because Charlotte knew Murphy would hate it as much as she did and wouldn't try to convince her to smile or be polite, which she had no intention of doing.

The parents that Bellamy still hadn't learnt their names of said goodbye to Charlotte quickly while Murphy whisked her into the room with him.

They both looked around the children and a couple of adults surrounding them. Murphy looked down immediately, but Charlotte just swallowed and carried on behaving how she was before; like this was the last place on earth she'd want to be.

"Murphy, I'll give you my other leg if you get me out of here right now." She half joked quietly as Murphy placed her wheelchair next to the breakfast table so she could grab something.

"Keep with it kid, you never know...you might like it." Murphy couldn't make himself say it in any tone other than sarcastic, although he really tried.

"Yes, you both might." A women's voice came from behind Murphy and he turned with a dull expression on his face, expecting to see one of the elderly mom's. But he didn't.

Instead he was face to face with the strangest, most beautiful looking woman he'd ever seen in his life. Her hair was tied back but it was a beautiful deep chocolate color. Her eyes were large and looked deep hazel in the dim lighting of the small room. She was slender, but looked stronger than Murphy even though she was a few inches shorter than him. Her hand was bandaged up with a beautiful deep green material which matched the green of her long sleeved shirt.

But it was the tattoo. The lady had a faded dark teal tattoo running straight from her the left of her forehead, down around her left eye, trailing down the side of her nose and twisting off onto her cheek. Murphy stared at it as it moved when she spoke.

"I'm Emori. I run this session. Hi there, you must be Charlotte. And you are?" She said to Murphy who couldn't close his mouth that was still slightly open or say anything out of it.

"That's John Murphy. He's my friend." Charlotte explained, giving him a smug look behind his back.

"Hi John, can you pass me one of those?" She asked sweetly, pointing behind him, so Murphy gulped and turned quickly, grabbing her one of the bottles of water on the side and passing it back to her.

"Thanks for the water."

"It's..uh..it was..no problem." Murphy stuttered out, wishing instantly he'd just nodded or something. Emori turned away and began gathering the children up so they could start their session.

"You totally like her." Charlotte pointed out to a red-cheeked Murphy. He frowned immediately, shaking his head, completely giving himself away by over-acting.

"What? Me? No way. Shut up." Murphy said as quickly as he could. "We're gonna go sit, keep your mouth shut." He said to her, joking around. It was the reason Charlotte needed Murphy in these times. He treated her the same as anybody else. Around Murphy she wasn't sick, or disabled. She was just a normal kid.

Sadly it was a lot easier to pretend she was fine when she wasn't surrounded by sick kids.

The session focused on trying to fit in in a classroom as every kid in the room was still in school. The children got asked if they'd found it tricky to be sick when they were in school. Charlotte said she missed playing outside. All the kids agreed and Emori said she'd be able too soon.

Charlotte's leg was hidden and still not working so well for her. She was struggling to stand on it, let alone walk, but she hadn't had too long to practice. Murphy was sure she'd improve soon.

At one point Charlotte had been asked to draw a picture of something she was feeling positive about. She'd refused to show Murphy what it was and handed it to Emori without him even getting a glance at it, but Emori had certainly liked it based on the grin on her face when Charlotte had handed it to her.

Murphy spent the entire session basically staring at Emori. He could take his eyes off her, she practically glowed. She was funny, nice to the children and even Charlotte ended up cracking a smile and joining in. Murphy was glad she was feeling better about this thing. And he was glad he came along too.

After it had finished Emori came over and asked Charlotte if she'd enjoyed herself, and was happy with Charlotte's positive response.

"And how did Mr Murphy enjoy the session? You didn't seem to be paying much attention." Emori pointed out, smirking. Murphy realized she'd noticed how much he'd been staring.

"It was very intriguing." He said, proud he hadn't stuttered over his words or said something stupid. Emori smiled but then glanced over at two moms and a dad in the corner, staring at them and talking among themselves. Murphy looked over too and two gave him a filthy look.

"Murder I'm told." one of the mom's who hadn't realized people were staring said quite loudly. Murphy couldn't believe it. She saw Murphy staring. "I know who you are boy, and I don't want him in this class Emori." She strode over to her and spoke quietly, but so Murphy could hear.

"My sister knew his mother. He's a sick twisted boy and I don't want him around my child." Emori looked Murphy up and down, then around at the people staring. The kids weren't paying much attention at all, they were talking in small groups.

"Let's just go John, they don't get it." Charlotte said and Murphy went to push her out the door.

"Wait." Emori said. "John has as much right to be here as anybody else. He's done nothing wrong today and provided he follows the same rules as everybody else in this session does, he is welcomed back."

"But..." the mother began to protest.

"Sharon, I just spoke to the children about being excluded. Perhaps you should have listened." Emori said in the same tone as she spoke to one of the children when they were being naughty. Charlotte grinned at Murphy, putting her thumbs up, but he still continued to push the wheelchair out of the room. He didn't want to embarrass Charlotte anymore than he already had.

Emori followed them out of the room and placed her hand on his arm to make him stop.

"You are welcome back here any time John." Emori said, looking straight at him, despite him trying to avoid her gaze.

"Most people just call me Murphy." He said, purposely not answering her directly.

"Murphy. Of course, if what they are saying is true, I should probably look into it right?" She said nicely and Murphy was confused because she was still smiling slightly.

"Probably. I'm not dangerous." He assured her.

"Well, it might be best for me to talk to you about it. In private sometime." Charlotte grinned from ear to ear, but Murphy wasn't quite getting it.

"Uh..I don't come into the hospital that often, but I can talk to you about it like before the next session?" He suggested and Emori laughed lightly.

"I was thinking we could talk over coffee sometime?" Murphy's eyes opened in shock when he realized what she was asking.

"Oh." He said, not thinking about giving an answer. "Oh. Um..sure. Yeah, no, that would be good." Emori shook her head slightly and called over Murphy's shoulder at a still beaming Charlotte.

"Charlotte, when is he next seeing you?"

"Tomorrow at 1. But I can have him out of here by 1:30?" She said, beaming like crazy.

"Sounds good to me. See you tomorrow, outside the front. 1:30." Murphy nodded, not trusting himself to say anything else. "Bye Charlotte. Bye John Murphy." Murphy started to push Charlotte again who couldn't resist teasing him.

"John's got a date!" She mocked loudly, so much so that Emori stopped returning to the room.

"Shut up Charlotte, or I'll end you." He joked back, then realized he could hear Emori laughing again. "In a non-criminal way!" He added quickly, glancing back over his shoulder at Emori standing with her arms crossed but a smile on her stunning face.

"You're the worst kid." Murphy said, realizing that Charlotte was slowly becoming like the sister he'd never wanted, but liked anyway.

"Yeah, but what would you do without me?" Charlotte retaliated, smiling to herself. She knew somewhere in the room was her drawing she wouldn't let Murphy see, which might of had something to do with what just went down.

On Charlotte's picture she'd drawn Emori and Murphy hand in hand. And in huge letters above it was written 'John likes you. Gross. But he's pretty cool.'

Charlotte knew if Murphy found out he'd be so annoyed at her, but right now, considering he couldn't stop smiling, it was worth it.


	27. Chapter 27

"Raven!" Clarke burst out as she saw Raven sitting slightly up in her hospital bed. She rushed forward and very carefully hugged her.

"Hey Clarke. Wow, you all look terrible. Did the apocalypse happen while I was out?" Raven said, looking at their appearances. "Wait, you're wearing the same clothes as yesterday, have you guys been waiting?" Raven seemed touched as Wick moved forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. Clarke didn't even try to conceal her smug grin, but Bellamy awkwardly looked away. He didn't know either of them very well, and he felt a little uncomfortable.

"So, what have they said to you?" Wick asked and Raven's smile wavered.

"They've told me there was some complications with my spine. They think I'm going to struggle to walk." Nobody knows what to say. They all stare at Raven who swallows and smiles as best as she can.

"Yeah, it sucks. But I'm dealing with it. I'm not just going to give up." She assures them. "Hey guys, do you mind if I talk to Kyle alone for a moment?"

Clarke and Bellamy exited the room and Bellamy decided it was about time to tell Clarke the truth.

"Clarke, we need to talk." He began, pulling her to the side of the corridor. Clarke didn't look overly pleased with his statement, in fact she looked nervous.

"I had a conversation with you mom. She told me if I was to...become anything more than friends with you, she'd get you transferred to Mount Weather for your best interests. I'm sorry, I should have told you before, it was wrong of me not to." Bellamy said said as fast as he could. Clarke didn't register any of it for a moment.

"She said that?" And Bellamy nodded.

"I completely understand if that means whatever this," Bellamy gestured between the two of them. "is over."

"Whatever this is, is good. I just won't tell my mother until she's warmed up a little." Clarke assured him and he grinned with relief. Clarke got a little closer and kissed him very gently and very quickly.

"Lets go see Charlotte. I want to find out how her therapy session went." Clarke began walking towards Charlotte's room.

"It must have gone well. Murphy was in such a good mood last night he cooked me dinner." Bellamy said.

"Ooh, romantic." Clarke teased. "How was it?"

"Absolutely awful." He shuddered slightly at the memory of his mac and cheese.

"Hey guys!" Charlotte said, very pleased to see them. They both said hey and asked how she was doing, and she told them she was doing okay. Clarke explained that she would be working later that day and would be able to hang out, which please Charlotte.

"So how was therapy?"

"Great! Murphy's in love!" Charlotte burst out and Bellamy couldn't believe his ears.

"Sorry, what?!"

"The leader of my session. Murphy really liked her, so I told her and they're going out today. Isn't it awesome? Murphy and Emori, sitting in a tree." She sang and it was Clarke's turn to be surprised.

"Emori? That's who Murphy's dating?" Charlotte nodded. "I...could see that." Emori had a reputation around the hospital, but only because of her tattoo. Rumors ranged from she used to be in prison to she used to be a tattoo artist, but Clarke had never paid attention because she wasn't that much into gossiping.

"Well how about that." Bellamy mused. In all the time he'd been living with Murphy he'd never once seen Murphy with a girl.

******************************************

Wick and Raven stayed silent for a few moments, just in case Bellamy and Clarke were close. Besides, neither one of them knew what to say.

Wick decided he should start. "Raven, I am so sorry." He moved towards her and placed a hand on her cheek, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "You never should have been there, this is all my fault."

"Don't beat yourself up. I wasn't looking where I was going. It wasn't your fault. What I wanted to talk to you about is...I'm going to be struggling to walk. And that's going to make anything we have, difficult." Raven looked down to her hands as her eyes were tearing up.

"Don't you dare. Don't you say it. You're not breaking this up, I don't care if I have to come to therapy with you, I'll build you a god damn contraption to walk, I don't care." Raven grinned slightly.

"That's not what I was going to say. I was going to ask you...not to give up on this." Raven still couldn't look him in the eyes. She was ashamed that she was asking.

"I wouldn't have ever considered it." Wick kissed the top of her forehead and she finally looked at him.

"Thank you Kyle." Raven wrapped her arms around is neck and pulled him in closer.

Wick had finally found somebody who made him happy, and somebody as special as Raven was difficult to find. He wasn't about to let her go this easily.

"I'm exhausted, I need some coffee. Would you mind?" Raven asked and Wick almost immediately jumped up, then re-thought it and quickly kissed her. She lent her forehead against his.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I'll be back in a moment." He waved quickly before he left the door. He looked around the corridor, not sure which one to go. The guy next to him gave him a look so Wick decided he'd just ask where the coffee was.

"Hey man, can you help me out? I'm trying to get some coffee, any ideas?" He asked, and the guy looked a bit confused.

"No sorry, I've haven't been here for very long time, I don't know where anything is." He man said.

"Ah, no problem. Here visiting distant relatives or something?" Wick asked politely, looking around for somebody else who might know. The man next to him looked a couple years younger than him, with dark hair.

"No. I'm an emergency contact for an ex so they called me. Guess she didn't think to change it when I moved." He explained.

"At least you know they're okay." Wick pointed out.

"Yeah. We haven't spoken since the break, it didn't end well. I never thought I'd see her again." The man said, pushing his medium length hair back as it was getting in his face.

"I'm sorry."

"That's alright. You'd better get back to getting coffee." The man suggested. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too. I'm Wick by the way." He stretched out his hand and the man shook it.

"Finn Collins."


	28. Chapter 28

Finn wasn't sure what had possessed him to cheat on Raven, or even why he'd continued. He'd been happy with Raven and he'd been ready to wait for her while she went abroad. He kept telling himself it wasn't something he'd planned, but he wasn't so sure of himself.

The second he knew Raven was gone, he was free to date whoever with little or no consequences. She didn't have very close friends to keep an eye on him, she wasn't going to be able to be messaging and talking to him all the time and Finn knew deep down he could do it with very little guilt. He'd never really thought cheating was that awful, his dad used to cheat on his mum and it need seemed that bad. They stayed together until he was 13 despite his dad never really being faithful, so he thought it was blown out of proportion. In his mind, Raven had chosen to leave him.

He'd liked the look of Clarke instantly after seeing her. She was hot and smart which meant he could talk to her. She was into the same kinda stuff as him which was awesome. Truthfully he'd figured he could be her friend and have a brief affair sort of thing with her. She didn't know Raven that well and Finn knew Raven liked having the apartment to herself so Clarke would probably leave soon after Raven got back and he could beg her not to tell Raven.

However it became clear to Finn that Clarke wasn't that kind of girl. She'd never want something brief, and she'd never keep it from Raven. That just wasn't her.

He knew he shouldn't do anything. He shouldn't have even considered it once he got to know Clarke, but he did. And then he just didn't tell her about Raven. He didn't stop to consider what would happen when Raven came home. He just knew Raven wasn't there and he wanted Clarke.

And yeah, it had been difficult. He couldn't have her round his place without clearing his apartment a little. Raven hated photographs of herself so she kept all photos of her and Finn at either his place, as he liked them, or in photo albums hidden away. Any place he'd been with Raven, he'd keep Clarke from. Her favorite bars and restaurants were completely off limits, and lots of other places he just didn't want to risk.

He knew it was wrong. But he just didn't care.

Which is why now, as he stood in front of Raven, he was surprised that he felt guilty.

She hadn't said anything, but her face made sure he knew how she felt. Before when Raven had looked at Finn her eyes had lit up and a small smile would creep onto her face. This Raven didn't even look angry. She just looked neutral. Finn wasn't so sure if that was worse or better.

"Hey." He started but she didn't respond. "I'm back." He gestured to himself a little but again she didn't move or try to talk.

"So you hate me then?" He tried to joke, but she wasn't laughing.

"I'd have to think about you to hate you. I wouldn't waste my time with that." Raven said bluntly, trying to buy her time before Wick came back with coffee. She was tempted to throw it at Finns face.

"Well I'm here now. Can't you think about me?" Finn knew she was just making a point but she wouldn't give up on it.

"Okay." She stared at him for a brief moment. "Okay I hate you."

"I said I was sorry. I tried to call."

"I got a new number."

"I came over."

"I didn't hear you."

"I messaged you all the time."

"I ignored you." Finn knew Raven was stubborn, he should have remembered she held a grunge.

"Come on Raven, you're telling me you don't feel anything for me anymore? I came all this way to make sure you were okay."

"Yet you haven't even asked if I am." Raven pointed and and watched Finn's face crumple as he realized too. 

"Raven, I...I'm sorry. This was a bad idea." 

"What was a bad idea?" Raven knew he was still her emergency contact, she'd forgotten to change it, but she assumed that was the reason he was here. 

"I want you in my life Raven. I'm here to ask you for a second chance." Raven thought for a moment. 

"You had a second chance. The second time you saw Clarke. And a third. And a thirtieth. You had 6 months of chances. Maybe I didn't I didn't give them to you, but you had them. But you never stopped. You just couldn't help yourself." Finn tried to protest but Raven didn't let him speak. "You lied to me, and you lied to Clarke. And she's my friend. I'm sorry but you wasted your chances Finn. You don't get any more." 

Finn wasn't sure how to react, so he stayed silent. Luckily for him, Wick came back into the room as quickly as he could considering he had hot coffee in both his hands. He went straight to Raven and put them both on the table beside them, taking her hand and then finally realizing Finn was in the room. 

"Hello. Finn, right?" Wick asked politely, trying to read Raven's face. Finn nodded. "You know this guy?" He asked Raven quietly. 

"No!" Raven said quickly. "He just popped in to say hello. And he was just leaving." Finn shrugged and Wick remembered what he'd said outside. 

"Wait...you said you were hear visiting an ex-girlfriend." Wick said quietly, slowing letting go of Raven's hand. 

"Raven didn't tell you about me?" Finn gave a pointed look towards Raven. "We dated for years. I'm surprised she didn't mention it."

"It never came up." Raven said through gritted teeth, facing Wick again. "I didn't think it was important." 

"Oh. Well. I've really put my foot in my mouth this time. I'd best go and leave you two to talk. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow Raven, when you're in a less dis-truthful mood." Finn said confidently, and then departed quickly. Wick stood an the end of Raven's bed with a blunt expression in his face. 

"So which should we discuss first? The fact that your ex-boyfriend is back in the picture, or the fact you never mentioned him?" He asked, unaware that Finn was listening outside the door and smiling to himself. He decided listening to anymore would be rude, so he headed off. 

He needed to find Clarke now.


	29. Chapter 29

Murphy was so nervous for this meeting he could hardly concentrate when he was with Charlotte. She beat him at least 30 times at nought and crosses, and several more at hangman. She eventually let him go early so he could go prepare. He was wearing clothes he thought were suitable. His dress shirt was white and he wore it with jeans and rolled up his sleeves, trying to get a casual look going, but he kept pulling at his clothes and messing with his hair he'd allowed to get long, a decision he hadn't regretted until now.

He was able to spot Emori almost as soon as she turned the corner. She was wearing a deep purple casual dress that stopped just below her knees. It was lovely, but Murphy wondered why in such hot weather, she was wearing a long sleeved cardigan over it and her hand was wrapped in a lilac floral fabric today. Murphy was beginning to grow more curious about it now. She must be warm though.

She smiled when she saw him and his neves reduced down to a small nag at the back of his brain. This was a casual meeting he told himself. Nothing to worry about. Except if Emori didn't like him he couldn't take Charlotte to therapy again which he would hate. Charlotte already had to fight enough to hang out with Murphy, but she argued it was no different from hanging out with Bellamy (who they liked) and Clarke (who they really liked).

"Hello John." She smiled.

"Most people call me Murphy." He corrected automatically. "But Johns fine." He added quickly.

"I have to cover a session in an hour I'm afraid, so do you mind if we just get a coffee at the hospital cafe?" Emori asked, and for the first time Murphy could have sworn she looked nervous too.

"Yeah." He said automatically, starting to walk towards it. "I mean no, I don't mind. We should do that." She smiled and joined him walking there.

They sat down, Murphy ordered a coffee and Emori ordered a herbal tea which he was sure he would have hated. It looked the colour of slime but smelt surprisingly pleasant.

"I drink coffee too." Emori pointed out as they got settled. "But I don't like to be too wired before a session. You saw me yesterday, I like to be calm."

"It was a good technique. Worked wonders, Charlotte loved it and she's been against it since the start." Murphy rethought that and realised it probably sounded rude to her job, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Don't worry, I get that a lot. There's a lot of stereotypes about therapy that are far from the truth. I'm just glad she enjoys it. She seems like a special little girl, how long have you known each other?"

"Truthfully only since her operation. I know her doctor, Clarke. But she asked me to hang out and we've become very close friends. She a good kid." Murphy sipped at his coffee, hoping he wasn't talking too much. He wondered if she could tell just how nervous he was.

"I noticed. Did she show you the picture she drew me yesterday?" Murphy shook his head. "It's one of my favorites so far. I have it on me actually." She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded drawing and passed it to him. He unfolded it and felt his face burning up. He wasn't sure how he felt about the words as they were pretty cheesy but the picture was sweet. He was touched Charlotte had done that for him.

"Sorry about that." He said.

"I thought it was sweet. She clearly cares about you a lot." Murphy couldn't help but think she must be the first person to, but he didn't vocalize that idea. He hadn't thought it was possible after juvee. Emori, thinking he had gone a little quiet reached out and put her hand over his. He looked down at it, a little in awe. Maybe somebody caring about him wasn't so impossible after all. He figured if somebody as special as Charlotte liked him for who he was, he couldn't be the bad guy.  
***********************************************************************

"You wanna come back to my place?" Bellamy asked, then realised quickly how that sounded. "It's close by and I have a chess board." They gone out and gotten an early lunch and were just walking around.

"You already beat me. You don't have to every time you want a date." She teased.

"I know. But I feel you went just a little bit easy on me?" He accused.

"Why would I do that? I had nothing to gain from losing." He swung her around so she was facing him and kissed her quickly, very aware they were in public. She smiled the moment he broke away, as did he.

"Nothing to gain, eh?"

"Fine, your place." And they walked there slowly, enjoying the warm day and the small talk they were making easily. Clarke knew she'd never seen the inside of Bellamys apartment and was very curious. Knowing he lived with Murphy, she assumed it would be a total bachelor pad.

She tried not to act too curious as Bellamy unlocked the door and let her in. She glanced around.

"You live here?" She asked and he grinned at her surprise and nodded. It was bright and nice. The place was modern and looked like it could have been professionally cleaned.

"You've seen Octavias apartment I assume?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"I got used to doing all the cleaning. Plus her immune system was terrible as kid so I got used to cleaning excessively." He briefly explained and started pointing at doors. "Bathroom, closet, my room, and Murphys room. Don't go near that thing."

"Why not?"

"The boy hoards books. He's got piles in their that could crush you to death if you touch them. I don't think he's read most of them yet, but the amount of time he spends holed up in his room, it won't take him long to finish." Clarke took a seat on the couch, assuming they'd play chess across the coffee table.

"Where's Murphy now?" Bellamy checked his watch.

"His date started about an hour ago I reckon. Man he's got it bad for that Emori lady. I'll have to meet the women." He said, starting to search around for the chess set.

"I'll hope Ravens okay." Clarke mused, her mind back to the hospital already. She wondered if she could phone but she wasn't sure how far they'd be on treating Raven yet.

"I'm sure she will be. The doctors at the Ark do a great job at both treating and seducing their patients." Bellamy teased, finally finding the game.

"I didn't seduce you! You totally tried, and failed, I may add, to seduce me!" Clarke laughed.

"That's not how I remember it."

"Trust me, if it had been the other way round, getting anywhere would have taken a lot less time." Now it was Bellamys time to laugh.

"You think? It's not that easy to seduce me you know." Clarke saw this as a challenge.

"Oh really?" She tugged at her shirt so it looked lower cut and brushed her hair around a little. She stood up and slowly strode over to Bellamy who she saw eyes flicker downwards which made her feel, even if they were kidding around, a little flushed. His stare was intense, and she'd forgotten what it was like to be looked at like that. Like they wanted her.

Bellamy took a step back when she got up close, trying to keep a casual look on his face, but there wasn't really anywhere to go so he stood his ground. Clarke looked up at him and bit her lip playfully. She placed her hands just above his hips lightly and slowly moved them up his body and watched Bellamy swallow and his adams apple bob a little in this throat. She remained as cool as she could in the circumstances, but she couldn't deny she was liking this as much as it appeared he was.

Finally she wrapped her arms around his neck while his remained frozen at his sides. She tilted her head towards his slightly and he went to close the distance but right before his lips touched hers she sprang away leaving him looking very dazed.

"See? It wouldn't have taken away time at all." Clarke said, trying to appear normal. Bellamy didn't really look annoyed, he grinned and walked toward her.

"Fine, somebody as beautiful as you? Wouldn't have taken 5 minutes." He traced her cheek with his finger and kissed her roughly, exactly how she wanted him to right now. She quickly wrapped her hands around his middle, bringing him in close and pressing herself up against it. She wanted him and that little stunt she'd just played to see if she could hadn't helped the situation. She backed herself up and eventually hit the couch.

Unfortunately she was going to quickly and fell back onto it with Bellamy on top of her. They stopped kissing and he checked to see if she was okay, and she was grinning to let him know she was. They laughed a little and she arched herself up to kiss him and drag him down so he was almost lying on top of her. Her hands started to tug at the bottom of his shirt as she started to commit herself to this.

Some Clarke always noticed in the movies was how easily clothes came off in intimate scenes. She'd never found it that easy, and getting Bellamy's shirt over his head was no exception to this. He pulled away and straightened his back so he was sitting again, pulling the thing off in one swift move. Clarke smiled automatically at the flawlessness that was his body. It was clear even through clothes he had a toned body, but seeing it fully was something else.

Bellamy was aware she was staring at him and didn't stop her, but went back down close to her as quickly as he could. He longed to be close to her, this had been building up for so long now, he thought he might go crazy. He played with her soft hair, appreciating it now it was down for him to love. He tangled his fingers in it, pulling her face closer to his as they kissed.

He wasn't sure who moved away faster when they heard coughing behind them. He sprang off the sofa and she sat up dead straight like a child caught doing something naughty, realising Murphy had caught them. Bellamy grabbed his discarded shirt and put it back on in a rush.

"Now, I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." Murphy mocked, grinning his head off. "Clarke, I have enough trouble avoiding seeing him naked, please don't make it harder for me."

"Shut up Murphy." Bellamy half joked.

"Sorry. I'm just bitter. You guys make the ending to my date seem disappointing." He said, moving towards his room.

"Glad to hear it went well." Bellamy retorted to see if he could wipe the smug grin off Murphys face but no such luck.

"Well, I'll be in here." he said, gesturing to his room. "You kids have fun."

"Thanks." Bellamy said through gritted teeth.

"Use protection!" Murphy added quickly and shut his room before Bellamy had a chance to murder him. Instead Bellamy just tried to act calm, turning his head away from Clarke for a moment just to mutter.

"Fucking Murphy."


	30. Chapter 30

As Murphy spoiled the mood, Clarke decided it was about time she left. Bellamy felt he wouldn't be able to face Murphy after embarrassing both himself and Clarke like that, so he went out to see Monty and Jasper at his work. He still had a little while off as he wasn't quite right, but the boss wasn't around so it couldn't hurt to go down. He missed the boys. 

The garage smelt like oil which Bellamy took a moment to breath it in, the familiarity comforting to him. However the garage was surprisingly quiet. Bellamy frowned and started to wonder inwards. The car being seen to looked like it was only half-way done, abandoned. 

"Hello?" Bellamy called and he heard a sound from the back room. 

"Hey Blake!" He heard Jasper yell and he stopped worrying. He rested against the car bonnet casually, glancing around at the place. He hadn't noticed just how much he'd missed it. 

Monty came through the door looking very happy to see Bellamy. 

"Hey man, good to see you out and about." He said and picked up a scanner lying around. 

"Um..thanks." Bellamy said, noticing something and putting two and two together. "Your shirts buttoned up wrong." He pointed out and Monty's head shot down to have a look. He began to redo it just as Jasper came out the door, fully dressed but his hair looked more unruly than usual, which Bellamy hadn't thought to be possible. 

"Hey." He said and noticed Bellamy's face. He chuckled. "Calm down, we didn't get past making out." Jasper assured him, getting a slap on the arm from Monty. 

"Shh." Monty said harshly. 

"Sorry." Jasper held up his hands in defence. "We were full on having sex." he said, voice thick with sarcasm and Bellamy couldn't resist laughing despite Monty's face flushing red and making him feel bad. Jasper brought Monty in for a hug, stretching on his toes so he could kiss Monty right on the top of his head. "We're 20, he's not gonna be that surprised if we were." 

"What you fellas get up to is none of my business." Bellamy said, feeling a little weird. It wasn't long ago he'd thought they were both just platonic friends. Seeing them dating was just so unusual. 

"We don't...I'm asexual." Monty blurted out and Jasper looked shocked but took his hand in his own to show his support.

"Asexual?" Bellamy asked. He'd heard the term but wasn't that familiar with it. 

"It's my sexuality. You know gay, straight, bisexual." On the last he gestured to Jasper who took the opportunity to do a little curtesy. "I'm not attracted to any gender." 

"Huh." Bellamy nodded. It didn't seem like that big of deal, but he could see how it might affect a relationship. "Well, you two makes more sense now. Looking at Jasper, you couldn't be attracted to that." He chucked a greasy towel at Jasper's face and they all laughed. 

"What Monty is trying to tell you is that you thought we were having sex, but we weren't and we don't." He turned to Monty who was looking a little upset. "Which I don't mind in the slightest." He kissed him again and Bellamy wished he hadn't throw the towel so quickly. 

"Ew. Can't you go back there if you're gonna go that? You two are like my brothers, it's so gross." They stopped and they all started working on the car together. The brake lines had disconnected so it didn't take them too long to fix them. A simple job to get Bellamy back into the game slowly. Jasper fixed them all a drink and they decided to talk about Clarke. Or Jasper and Monty did, Bellamy was very reluctant. 

"So are you two dating now?" Monty went straight out and said it. 

"Change of subject please." Bellamy prompted. 

"Okay. There's a cool doctor I met when I was at the hospital named Clarke. You know her, is she single?" Monty asked and received a playful shove from Bellamy. 

"Honestly...I don't know. We haven't exactly dated." Had the hospital counted? He'd enjoyed it, but she'd been working. She didn't even like him that much to begin with, but Bellamy was very persistent, and he didn't regret a thing. The way Clarke made him feel. Just how incredible she was. Everything about her, the way she smiled just slightly more to the left of her mouth. How she always spins her pen round in circles when she's holding it. How she kept humming to herself when she was concentrating in chess. Adorable. 

"I think...I think I'm in love with her." Bellamy revealed. 

"What?!" Monty gasped. "You hardly know her. How longs it been, a couple months?" 

Jasper sighed and clapped Bellamy on the back. "I think it's romantic. Hell, if Monty had decided he'd liked me that fast it would have saved us a lot of trouble." He remarked, getting him a death stare from Monty. Jasper blew him a kiss and Monty's face melted into a small smile. 

"I know it's fast. I'm sure she doesn't feel the same way." Bellamy pondered, attempting to recall when she might have hinted or showed it. Nothing. 

"Well, I mean, theoretically she could be in 'love' with you. If you cause enough of a release in endorphins then she could conceive it as falling in love. Your pheromones would have to be compatible, and you'd have to of gotten close enough to her, but it's possible." Monty rambled and Bellamy got increasingly more confused. He'd forgotten Monty had always had a thing for biology. The three were silent. 

"Nerd." Jasper finally remarked, causing Monty to start laughing. 

"Let's send her a selfie!" Monty burst out and grabbed Bellamy's phone, putting the camera on before Bellamy could refuse. Bellamy went for it and stuck his tongue out, Jasper screwed up his face as much as humanly possible and Monty pouted while he snapped a picture. He quickly sent the picture to Clarke while Bellamy vowed he'd put a lock on the damn thing the moment he got it back. 

 

*********************************************************************

Octavia heard her door being banged against when she'd just finished getting dressed to go out. Lincoln was taking her to see a play and she was really excited. He'd been extra attentive for a while now, and at first Octavia had been over the moon, but she'd grown a bit more suspicious in the last few weeks. He was often taking phone calls and not telling her what about, or he was popping out for a couple of hours several times a week. But now he was taking her out for the evening and she convinced herself she was just being silly. 

Clarke was waiting on the other side of the door, jumping up and now a little on her toes, nervously waiting to be let in. She knew Octavia was home. As soon as the door clicked she said hello and Octavia invited her in. 

"I went to see Raven at the hospital earlier. It killed me hearing about the accident." Octavia said and Clarke momentarily forgot what she was doing there. 

"I'm sorry, I know I should have phoned you earlier but with everything that had been happened, I just wasn't thinking..." she trailed off. "How is she?"

"They'll have to keep her in for a couple more weeks, until she can learn to walk with at least a crutch. The damage is mostly in her left leg, so it should be possible for her to walk aided. But by herself...it's not looking good." Octavia slumped into her couch and Clarke sat next to her, draping her arm around her friend’s shoulders. 

"I just wish there was something we could do. She's always been there for me." Clarke remarked. She was a doctor, yet she couldn't even help her friend. She'd never felt quite so useless.   
“We’re going to be there for her Clarke, you don’t have to worry.” Octavia assured her, placing her hand on Clarke’s shoulder in what she hoped would be a loving way. Clarke felt her phone buzz in her pocket and she glanced at the text from Bellamy quickly. 

‘Dragging Monty and Jasper to help me with the surprise. Really have to get it done I think Lincoln might burst!!’ 

She smiled, imagining Bellamy and his two friends helping each other out. Seemed like a nice idea for such a warm afternoon. She text him back to be careful of his ribs. She didn’t want him back in the hospital after doing such a good job of patching him up. 

“Who’s that smile for?” Octavia teased and Clarke debated whether or not to tell her it was Bell or not. 

“Bellamy.” Clarke paused. “Look, can I confess something? Because I know we're friends, but I know he's also your brother.” 

“Sure thing.” Octavia shrugged.

“I think…I think I might be in love with him.”


	31. Chapter 31

Clarke decided not to wait until she organised to meet up with Bellamy again. She needed to see him and she needed to see him now. Octavia had been nothing but over the moon for her brother and her friend. Not that she hadn't seen it coming, but she was glad to be apart of it.

Clarke had text for Bellamy to come over to her place, claiming it to be urgent. As soon as he pressed the buzzer she assured him that everything was fine and let him come up. She clenched her fist and released it again, trying to calm her nerves.

She opened the door before he even knocked and pulled him inside.

"Clarke? Are you alright princess? You sounded like something was wrong." He glanced over to her table and saw a chess game already set up. "Chess?"

"Yes. I want to play." She dragged him over to the table and sat him down.

"Right. Well, okay then." Bellamy shrugged. She was so full of surprises, he loved it. He loved her. Monty and Jasper seemed so happy for him when he'd explained everything. So weird how long it took him to accept it as a fact.

"Wait!" She put her hand out to stop him from moving a piece. "This is chess with a twist."

"Oooh." He teased. "Getting interesting now. What's the twist?" This is it, Clarke told herself.

"Strip chess." She blurted out and watched Bellamy laugh.

"Seriously?" He couldn't believe her. "Well if you insist." She smirked. He'd fallen for it. Like she'd suggest playing a game like this without having a plan. She glanced at what he was wearing. Perfect.

"Every time we take a piece of each other's chess set, that isn't a pawn, the other person is to lose an article of clothing. If the king goes, it's a full birth day suit." She explained. 2 shoes, 2 socks, jeans, a t-shirt and a long sleeve unbuttoned in front. That and if she made the assumption he was wearing underwear (bit weird if he wasn't but not the end of the world) he had 8 pieces of clothing. 8 pieces of his set weren't pawns and she fully intended to get rid of every single one.

"I'll take that challenge." He said, confident in himself. He didn't even needed to beat her. She was wearing a dress and tights. 4 of her pieces and she'd be playing naked and this whole thing would be delightful. Not that it wasn't when she was fully clothed, but this little dirty side of hers was such fun.

"You go first." Clarke smiled sweetly and he did.

After 5 moves he'd lost a shoe. He'd taken only one of her pawns.

After 9 moves, he'd lost both shoes and a sock. She was yet to lose a single piece of clothing. He was starting to suspect she was playing him, and not just at chess.

"What's your game here Princess?" She winked in response, not wanting to give anything away.

In 15 minutes he was down to his boxers with only 4 pawns and a king left. He had lost no matter what and all Clarke had gotten rid of was her tights. This wasn't possible. Every move he was taking seemed to be helping her.

Clarke stared a little at the toned chest and muscles of her opponent. It reminded her of just how ingenious this plan was. Now she was just messing around with him. She wasn't taking his pieces, just making him dance around the board.

"I'm starting to think this was all planned Griffin." He moved his king again. "And that you've been much better than you've been letting on since we've starting playing."

"Is that right?" She teased, moving her queen again. "Check."

"Hmm. Which means...you let me win that game to take you on a date. I knew you wanted to go out with me, I just knew it."

"Or I just wanted to throw you a bone." She moved into position again.

"And I think you just want to see me naked." He pointed out.

"Oh please. I'm not getting out of my dress because I know how distracted you'd be if I were to be half naked." She stuck out her tongue. "And you're bad enough already."

"Quit playing with me." Bellamy said, knowing full well her next move would be check mate and he'd have to lose his pants. Suppose there were worse ways to be naked in front of a girl for the first time. She placed her piece down gently and stared at him eye to eye.

"Check mate Bell. Lose 'em." Bellamy stood up and inhaled, pushing his pants down quickly and standing there, trying not to think of how damn embarrassing this was. Clarke looked downwards and Bellamy tried to read the expression on her face. She stood up to join him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She planted small kisses on his lips and watched him smile. So beautiful.

Bellamy pulled down the zip of her dress and she quickly took a step back to step out of her dress. She was wearing her simple black pants and bra. Bellamy thought she was radiant. He took her hand and pulled her into the bedroom gently.

She kissed him again and stroked his hair at the back of his head slowly. Clarke noted it was such a peaceful moment. She could have stayed in it forever. His palms rested on each of her cheeks and he looked into her stunning blue eyes.

"You sure?" He asked. They'd had such a bad history with communication he just wanted to make sure she was okay and that this was what she wanted. Clarke nodded. His lips glided over hers as he captured her bottom lip between his own. Her fingers traced over his chest and landed halfway between his chest. She pushed him back onto the bed and he sat and stared as she happily removed the rest of her clothing.

"You're so beautiful." Bellamy couldn't help but comment and watched as her face lit up with warmth. "What did I do to deserve you in my life?"

"That's funny." Clarke stroked his cheek with the hand of her fingers. "I was thinking the same about you."

Both of them would have been content to stay in that bed for the rest of their lives, however they settled for just a pretty restless night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a ridiculous amount of time since I last updated! I didn't realise how hectic college was going to be. But I should be able to update pretty regularly from now on. Enjoy the chapter!


	32. Chapter 32

Clarke couldn't stop grinning the next morning as she sat down to eat waffles made by Bellamy. He was very proud of his skills in the kitchen, and he loved showing them off at every opportunity, not that Clare was complaining at all.  

Bellamy placed everything down on the table and even took the time to kiss her on the top of her forehead. "I hope you like it all, I've got strawberries, and chocolate and syrup and.."  

"I love you." Clarke blurted out and instantly regretted it. Not that she hadn't meant it, but it was far too soon to say that. He'd just been so nice to her, and he looked adorable this morning with his scruffy hair and baggy t-shirt. She couldn't resist.  

"I'm so sorry!" She told him, hiding her face in her hands and she could feel the blood rush to her face. Bellamy rushed over to her and placed his lips on hers, not even able to kiss her properly he was smiling so much.  

"I love you too." He told her and watched her physically relax in relief. "I thought I'd be the first to say it."  

"You love me?" She stroked his neck with the back of her fingers, remembering this moment as best as she could. She wanted to remember it for a long time. The luscious smell of waffles in the air mixed with the sweet smell of strawberries, which was exactly what Clarke had tasted on Bellamy's lips. She memorized the exact color of his t-shirt, and every lock of his hair that was out of place.  

"Of course I love you." Bellamy couldn't believe she even had to ask. "I love everything about you Clarke."  

"I'd drag you back into that bedroom right now if these waffles didn't smell so damn good." Clarke said, and Bellamy raised his eyebrows at her.  

"Well, how about you eat and then see if you're still as keen." She didn't need to wait, she knew she would. And sure enough, the second her waffles were finished she pulled him into the bedroom to thank him properly.  

For the next few hours Clarke was on cloud nine. Everything just made her happier, if that was even possible. She never thought she would feel anything like this again. Had she ever felt this happy with Finn? She didn’t think she had. With Finn everything was very...quick. Everything was full of fire, abrupt and passionate. But the flame had gone out as quickly as it had been lit.  

With Bellamy, it was completely different. She'd kept away, been careful and thought everything through. Yet she was still feeling like this. He'd become such a good friend before she went on that date with him, and that made it perfect. She knew he was completely open with her, there were no secrets. She'd gotten to know every part of him and she loved each part, every flaw, every habit, every insecurity.   

She had to leave eventually, she had an evening shift at the hospital and she needed a real shower. She didn't really think the one she took with Bellamy counted.  

Turning the corner to her apartment she was too busy searching for her keys to realize somebody was waiting for her. She didn’t look up until she spoke.  

"Hey Clarke." He said and her heart stopped.  

"Finn?" She gulped and looked up at him. His hair was a little longer but other than that he looked the same. "What...What are you doing here?"  

"I came to see you Clarke. To say I'm sorry for everything I did, it was the biggest mistake of my life. I've missed you." And there it was. Something a small part of Clare had wanted to hear for the few months after she was with Finn. Something she had longed to hear, and it was actually being said to her. Now, hearing it, she wanted to throw up. She wanted to punch him so hard he was knocked out and she could just walk past him and leave him out in the corridor to himself.  

"Go to hell Finn. I haven't missed you, and I don't care about anything you have to say to me."  

"I don't believe that. I saw it on your face when you saw me Clarke, baby. You've missed me. You know I never wanted to hurt her." He tried to reach out to touch her cheek but she stepped away, shuddering. 

"You did. But I've moved on."  

"You used to love me." He said sadly and Clarke resisted the urge to laugh.  

"No, actually I didn't. I thought that was love, but I've felt the real thing now and we were never in love. You said you loved me too, just like you said you loved Raven for all that time. You don’t know the meaning of the word. Now if you'll let me, I have to get into my apartment. I have a job to get to."  

"Tell me you've really let go of all your feelings for me Clarke. Look me in the eye and tell me you feel nothing. I know how you felt for me, we had a great thing going." Clarke stared at him, straight into the eyes she used to think she could stare into forever.  

"You're right, I do feel things when I look at you." He looked so damn smug, but Clarke wasn't finished. "Anger. Disgust. Hatred. I loathe you Finn, for what you did to me and for what you did to my friend."  

"You don't mean that." He argued.  

"Believe me or not, I don't give a damn. I'm with somebody else, and he's amazing. Bellamy is everything you could never be and I love him." She assured him, pushing past him so she could finally get inside. She slammed the door in his face and hoped he'd be gone by the time she had to get to work.  

He was gone, but only because he was already heading to the hospital. He wanted to talk to her again, and she'd have no choice there. He knew she was just being stubborn. Once her anger wore off, he was sure she'd realize she still had feelings for him.  

He'd been a fool not to realize those 6 months with Clarke had been the best in his life. He wasn't about to let that go now, and nobody, not even this Bellamy guy, was going to get in his way. 


End file.
